Irish boxing queen

Ireland's boxing queen Katie Taylor, who booked her place at the London Olympics without throwing a punch at the women's world championships last Wednesday, is going to be one of the faces of the Games. The three-times world and five-times European lightweight champion went through to the last four when her Romanian opponent Mihaela Lacatus withdrew with a neck injury. Due to regional quotas limiting Europeans to three of the eight places to be won in each of the three Olympic classes this week, it was not until Tajikistan's Mavzuna Chorieva won the next bout that Taylor's place in London was secure. "It's a dream come true, I just can't believe it," she said. "It's just years and years of hard work to get here, now I'm going to be an Olympian." As the world No 1 was talking, Natasha Jonas was fighting Norway's Ingrid Egner in her lightweight quarter-final bout and the Briton also booked her place in London when the referee stopped the contest in the fourth round. "Get in Tash! Get in!" her father Terry shouted from the gallery above the ring, dispelling any doubt the 22nd ranked Jonas might have had about her qualification for the debut of women's boxing at the Games. Unreal The Liverpudlian beamed with delight and, shrouded in a Union flag with the sweat gathering on her corn-rowed hair, was clearly already contemplating fighting on home soil in late July and August. "To know that I'm going to be going out in front of 10,000 people and they're all going to be cheering for me for a change is just unreal," she said. "I just can't wait to get onto that stage and show everybody what women's boxing is all about." That Jonas went into her bout unaware that victory would win a her a place in London was not an isolated case of confusion at the Olympic indoor stadium in the industrial coastal city three hours north-east of Beijing. The governing International Boxing Association will not officially announce the qualifiers until after today's final, leaving some complicated calculations to be made. The regional quota meant Tunisia's Rim Jouini, for example, secured her Olympic place on Monday despite losing her second round bout to Taylor. In addition to the places to be won this week there are other places to be awarded by the International Olympic Committee's Tripartite Commission, a body set up to ensure smaller nations are represented. Taylor said those places should be distributed to the best boxers who miss out on qualification. "We need to showcase the best talent out there, it's so important for the sport," she said. "Everybody needs to see the best female talent at the Olympics and I hope they make the right decision." Her father and coach Peter, a former Irish amateur champion, was clearly moved by his daughter fulfilling her dream but was keen to stress her many achievements before women's boxing became an Olympic sport. "I was proud of her long before this moment, she's had an amazing career and being an Olympian was never going to define who Katie was," he said. He was keen to emphasise that his daughter's achievements since she took up boxing under his guidance at the age of 12 went far beyond her collection of titles. Pioneer "I run the boxing club where I am and so at the time I had no concerns about it," he said. "At the time there was no structure for women's boxing in Ireland and Katie's pioneered the way for female boxing, she's made their path a little bit easier." Already one of Ireland's best loved athletes — she ranked only behind rugby union great Brian O'Driscoll in one recent survey — she has met US President Barack Obama at the White House and starred in a rap video with Tinie Tempah. The pressure for her to succeed was always likely to be most intense in her home country, which has not won an Olympic gold medal since the 1996 Games in Atlanta. "The expectation was there when we came here, it's there all the time, it doesn't change much," said her father. "We try and keep Katie away from it all to tell you the truth."