This may be the happiest day for Ireland since the Good Friday peace accords. Katie Taylor won her gold medal in her 60-kg boxing match against Sofya Ochigava of Russia. She is the Republic of Ireland's new national heroine.
The news reports I've read about Taylor are about how she carried the hope of a nation on her shoulders in these Games. In winning this medal, she lived up to all the hope and the hype. It's too bad that, in all my channel-switching to see as many events as possible, I didn't see it. But just the fact that the Irish national anthem was played on British soil is enough to make me smile. And after all the doping scandals involving Irish Olympic athletes, real or alleged, this victory is as sweet and redemptive for Ireland as Donovan Bailey's 100-meter dash win in Atlanta in 1996 (eight years after Ben Johnson's steroid-fueled run in the same race) was for Canada.
And Ireland's not done yet. Three Irish boxers are guaranteed at least a bronze medal each.
"A na-tion once again . . . "
(No, that's not from the Irish national anthem, that's a different song . . .)
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