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Moville man’s Olympic
adventure
27.08.08
Beijing resident
witnesses Irish boxing triumphs
by Simon McGeady, Inishowen
Independent
WHEN the Olympic Games came to his adoptive home
town earlier this month, Moville man Derek Doherty
was in sporting heaven. He had seen the mighty
Olympic venues go up over the last handful of years
and to finally be able to sit in the stunning Bird's
Nest stadium and watch the best athletes in the
world compete was a great privilege.
The Beijing resident took in a wide range of sports
during the sixteen days of competition starting with
boxing on August 9.
“I saw some tidy fights and the atmosphere was
decent. Best part is that the venue is only five
minutes from my apartment,” said the 33 year old,
who returned to the venue on several occasions over
the two weeks to cheer on the Irish boxers. |
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Next up was the beach
volleyball, which he described as ‘a big slice of
cheese but good cheese.’
“The atmosphere was like you'd imagine it is at
Spring Break in the States, only with a lot of
Chinese people having wandered into things by
mistake. We'd great seats up at the front and the
weather was good.”
On the first Friday of the games, |
Derek, who works at the Swedish Embassy in Beijing,
went to the Bird's Nest with his father-in-law.
“I was bouncing with excitement and it did not
disappoint. The Water Cube and the Nest – all you
can do is marvel. I could hear the noise as I was
making my way up the last bit of steps and then it
opened up before me and what a view, 91,000 people
sitting comfortable in this gorgeous arena. We were
high up but right above the finish line for the
100m. We saw [Usain] Bolt cruise to the finish in
his heat.”
The middle Sunday of the games he attended cycling
at the velodrome.
“We arrived just as the British woman won gold and
was up against the railings hugging her family,
which just happened to be at the top of the steps
that we'd come bounding up. I'm sure there are TV
pictures of two stupid heads barging into this very
emotional family moment. Anyway, the cycling was
great. It's lots of cat and mouse stuff before they
finally go-hell-for-leather and the speed is
amazing,” said Derek, who witnessed the British team
break the world record in the team pursuit.
The following Tuesday it was back to the boxing ring
to see Paddy Barnes win Ireland’s first medal of the
games.
“We were in the venue by 7.03 and saw the last three
rounds. [Barnes] was a bit cagey, but won
comfortable enough to guarantee a bronze medal.
There was good crowd of Irish making lots of noise,
maybe 30 of us.”
He didn’t get to see Kenny Egan’s fight a couple of
hours later as he’d headed across to the Workers
Stadium for the Olympics semi-final between Brazil
and Argentina. “The first half wasn't much but the
second was electric. Both Ronaldinho and Messi
showed some great bits of skill. But the Argies
thoroughly deserved it. In the end the whole ground
were on their feet shouting in Chinese 'Class is
over, time to go home Brazil'... which is their way
of saying you've just been spanked,” added Derek.
All that remained to cap an unforgettable experience
was for Kenny Egan to take gold against Zhang
Xiaoping at the Worker Gymnasium. Alas, it was not
to be.
“I was devastated to see Egan lose the final,
although I'm pretty sure we made more noise than the
Chinese did!” |
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