THE PR shots are all done and the pre-Paris excitement slowly fading as focus turns to the job at hand for Ireland’s boxers – with the serious business of Thursday evening’s draw playing a major part in shaping their fortunes across the next fortnight.
From smiling pictures of Jude Gallagher, Dean Clancy and Jack Marley checking out the cockpit of their flight from Dublin on Monday, the next image released was of boxers and coaches putting the finishing touches to preparation in a basement car park in the French capital.
“No frills,” tweeted Irish high performance director Tricia Heberle, “what we do.”
None of the travelling party has seen more of this than head coach Zaur Antia.
Paris will be his fifth Olympic Games, having moved to Ireland soon after Athens 2004 – an appointment which would significantly alter the country’s fortunes following some barren years.
The draw can have a huge bearing, and the Georgian knows it can also cloud judgement and expectation.
“Look, we have to wait and see what happens. Sometimes the draw is good as well, you know? So it depends on what happens.
“The one thing we already know is that we have to be ready for everything, but we can only control what we can control. We have to plan and to perform at our best, that is how we get results.
“Our preparations are in the final place now. We left for Paris on Monday morning and those preparations continue here in the Village.
“The important thing about our approach is that we keep everybody happy and focused, that they train and rest at the right times but also that we keep it fun and that everybody is happy and is able to think about producing their best performance.
“We already have the individual times for the bouts and so we have planned what people should do to prepare until the day of their fight.”
Antia knows how important momentum is when arriving at this stage.
Few predicted the medal haul that returned from Beijing - when Paddy Barnes, Kenny Egan and Darren Sutherland all made it to the podium - while big things were expected of the star-studded team that travelled to Rio eight years ago.
They returned empty-handed, though some of the reasons for that were beyond their control after the judging controversies that erupted in Brazil.
“You know, everybody thinks about this but experience tells me that when we achieved something, we would never talk about medals. We always plan how to perform best, how to play the game very well. That’s how it happened for us.
“I know people think about medals but we think about performance first because if you think about medals, you’re not focused and the medal never happens. The first thing is producing your best performance.
“Keep thinking of that every second and follow the plan. Keep positive, remove the negative thoughts. You know when people say ‘when the shit hits the fan’, that happens many times. It’s about moving past that and finding that positive again.
“Time rolls very fast and it’s a nice challenge, it’s good. The sun doesn’t always shine, there isn’t always a rainbow, it’s a challenge but when you love the challenge and you have a plan, you have a purpose, everything goes very well.”
From a personal perspective, there is little Antia hasn’t seen during his time working with Irish teams – but how have the various Olympic experiences, the good and the bad, impacted him as the first bell in Paris looms?
“Experience, and more clarity,” he says.
“When you have been in the same place, you have to become more wise. This is about challenge, using your experience better and try to do your best. That’s all.
“Rio was different, we had eight, now we have 10. Completely different environment, very good team as well, just another Olympic Games. I don’t want to go back on what factors at that time, we try our best there as well, we remove all negatives and boxers performed not too bad over there as well.
“Some things happened that was not in our control, this time everything is fantastic. Young team, some experienced boxers as well.
“Before they qualified for Olympic Games, they had more pressure over [at Olympic qualifiers] in Milan, Bangkok, Poland, now they are Olympians, some of them first time.
“Already they have done a big thing, so they are very happy.”
