Irish fans on song but judges’ Zhang call draws scorn
The chorus started slowly but quickly found some momentum and even the Kazak fight fans in the midst of this 200-strong green enclave had little difficulty in learning the words of ‘Ole, Ole, Ole’.
They were merely returning a favour as those same Irish men and women had worked themselves into a frenzy supporting Bakhyt Sarsekbayev en route to a shock victory over Cuban favourite Carlos Banteaux in the welterweight decider. Things got a little difficult for the Kazaks when the Irish began to extend their repertoire to ‘The Fields of Athenry’ yet it mattered little as the decibel level seemed to be hitting triple figures from the patch which included friends and family of the Dubliner along with a huge representation from the Irish Olympic team.
But then China found its voice. The nation, which is relatively new to this boxing game — the sport was banned by Chairman Mao — had to rely on prompts on the giant screens to know when to cheer and when to applaud. (An hour earlier Zou Shiming won China’s first gold medal in boxing after his opponent retired with a shoulder injury).
And when the order came to proclaim their man, Zhang Xiaoping, they did so with an awesome display of national pride with choreographed flag waving and chanting.
It was ironic then that it was Egan who wore red in the battle for gold, but the judges had no difficulty in distinguishing the home man.
After a tight first round, the scoring system began to take on a life of its own, ignoring the Dubliner’s hits while some of his opponent’s fresh airs seemed to be signalled clean.
In the aftermath Kenny’s brother Willie stood proudly watching the medal presentation. Though he didn’t dispute the outcome, the margin of the 11-7 defeat was an annoyance.
“It’s very hard to beat a whole country. That’s the way it was,” he said.
“It should have been closer and he should have got the scores for the shots that he threw. “I got texts from guys from England even the British commentators were saying it.
“At the end of the day he has a silver medal and I know the pain he is going through.
“He is an ambassador for Ireland and everyone else, he never looked down, he was positive. He is a fantastic young man. Who would have thought when he didn’t qualify in the world championships in Chicago last year that he would be here standing on the podium in there as number two? We can’t complain.”
Rory Burgess, the owner of Egan’s local Boomer’s Bar, and another member of the amazing support team which followed this journey was a little more forthright.
“Kenneth Egan would have had to knock him out twice. He would have needed a hammer and a gun.
“He is a wonderful guy, he is a silver medallist, the top athlete we have in how many years but he deserved better treatment than he got there. I didn’t expect anything else. We’ll have a party for him tonight, we said we would and we will keep our word.”
Across the room Dominic O’Rourke President of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association was being besieged for his expert analysis on what we had just witnessed.
He concurred with the opinions of the non local masses.
“I’m very disappointed — the Chinese fighter seemed to get the scores. When Kenny got back to within a point he (Zhang) got two and three scores that nobody in the stadium realised he got but they came up on the computer.”
In the post-fight press conference, Egan, took time to discuss the performance of the team he had led to these Games, and which had saved Ireland from another nightmarish Olympic experience with bronzes for Paddy Barnes and Darren Sutherland.
All five Irish boxers were beaten by the eventual Olympic champions, a statistic which pleased the skipper.
“It just shows we are up with the best of them. It takes the best to beat us. I’m especially happy for the three younger lads John Joe Nevin, John Joe Joyce and Paddy Barnes.
“But they were beaten by eventual winners. It is not like they were beaten by a guy who was beaten in the next fight and myself getting beaten by the champion.
“I think overall, we produced great performances. It is not bad. It is 16 years coming and now we have a silver and two bronze. I’m delighted with my team. They showed great courage and pride. I just hope to see them in four years’ time with the same stuff.”
And he didn’t rule out another crack at this Olympic Games business.
“I haven’t signed anything yet, I haven’t even talked about my future yet, I’m just looking forward to getting home to my family and taking a time out.
“It has been a long few weeks with training camps and the Games itself. It has been very mentally draining but I am proud of our performance.
“I am captain of the Ireland team and I’m proud to be and who knows in four years’ time, I could still be captain. I love the amateur game.”
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