Katie Taylor Irish superstar boxes her way into history as she wins gold at London Olympics
Ireland’s Katie Taylor completed a lifetime dream by winning an Olympic gold medal when she beat Russia’s Sofya Ochigava 10-8 in the women’s lightweight final at the ExCel Arena.
Cheered on by a capacity crowd, that surely broke the decibel level record at the London 2012 Games, Taylor had to dig deep against an opponent who had previously beaten her.
Unlike Taylor’s quarter-final bout with Natasha Jonas, this was no classic, as Ochigava’s spoiling tactics and counter-attacking style troubled the Bray woman, who trailed 4-3 at the end of the second round.
Nevertheless, Taylor dug deep and rallied in the third round with the kind of precision boxing that has made her a four-time world champion.
And although she had to endure a tense wait at the end of a tough fourth round, the referee duly raised her hand to spark off wild celebrations and emotional scenes throughout the arena.
A calm and confident Taylor entered the ring to unbelievable support from a crowd that had the likes of Dara Ó Briain rubbing shoulders with Princess Anne – who was forced to cover her ears such was the noise.
The ring announcer could barely be heard over the din of Taylor’s supporters, but a calm and confident Sofya Ochigava did not look flustered, despite some unsporting booing as her name was announced.
Taylor was bouncing on her toes from the start and was the immediate aggressor, feinting with her left jab and using it to create room for her right hook. The Bray woman suffered an early slip in the clinch but a slip is all it was and there’s no bonus point for Ochigava.
The Russian, known for her defensive tactics, was happy to invite Taylor on and caught her flush with a powerful right, but the Bray woman hit back with a looping left before ending the round with a powerful flurry on the bell that Ochigava did well to block.
A scoreline of 2-2 was a fair reflection of the opening round and Ochigava, encouraged by her early success, loosened up slightly, going after Taylor and catching her twice in quick succession with her left hook.
The Russian southpaw then reverted to form, slowing down the pace of the fight and disrupting Taylor’s rhythm with a series of clinches and awkward non-scoring jabs that had the Irishwomen struggling.
Taylor managed to land a scoring blow just before the bell went, but there was real concern among the Irish supporters as the scorecard read 4-3 in the favour of Ochigava.
Determined not to allow Ochigava the chance to continue dictating the pace, Taylor made early gains in the third, catching the Russian with her right hook twice in quick succession.
The Bray fighter followed that up with a left jab and a right hook that both looked like scoring before the Russian hit back with a powerful-looking body blow.
Both fighters got a well-earned breather with 30 seconds to go in the round as Ochigava’s equipment needed attention, and that break killed the momentum of the round, which Taylor was in danger of running away with.
Nevertheless there where huge cheers when the bell went and the scorecard showed that Taylor had punched her way to a 7-5 lead.
Trailing going into the final round, Ochigava finally left her counter-punching style behind her and opened the round with a massive haymaker that Taylor did well to avoid.
Taylor then went to work on the body of her opponent, before the referee rather harshly broke them up and indicated that she had called for a break.
Ochigava then looked to have scored with a left on the counter, and after a clinch, she appeared to catch Taylor with a booming right that forced a stumble. To her credit Taylor recovered immediately and disguised it as a slip and there was no standing count.
An increasingly desperate Ochigava pushed forward in the closing minute, throwing as many punches as she had in the first two rounds, and even Taylor was working well behind her defence and blocking well, she was still getting caught.
Taylor hit back with a scoring left just before the closing bell, but there was still an almost unbearable wait and what seemed to be a prolonged delay, sparking concerns that it may have been a countback, before the referee raised her hand to send the crowd in attendance and those watching at home into rapture.
Sore loser Ochigava points finger at judge’s after her loss to Katie Taylor
Defeated Olympic finalist Sofya Ochigava was less than impressed by the manner of her 10-8 loss to newly-crowned champion Katie Taylor this afternoon and reiterated claims of a conspiracy this evening.
The Russian lightweight, who yesterday claimed the judges would favour Taylor in the second women’s final of the day, said today that as far as she was concerned it was the same old story.
“As usual they tried their best to let the Irish win,” she told reporters, “the judges as usual corrected the scores in her favour just as they did during the world championships to let Katie win,” Ochigava told reporters through a translator. “What can I say now?”
It was third time in four meetings Taylor has beaten Ochigava, but the Wicklow woman, gracious in victory, said it was a close run thing and revealed she feared a countback. The result took so long to arrive after four punishing rounds at the ExCel Arena, Taylor admitted afterwards she had no idea which way the decision had gone.
“I didn’t know to be honest,” said the five-time world champion. “The last round was very close. She caught me with a few shots and I caught her with a few shots as well, but I didn’t know what way the score-line went really.
“There was a bit of a delay near the end and I thought it had gone to a countback at one stage, and I was thinking that maybe if it went to a countback I wouldn’t have won because I think maybe she threw more punches than me. But I definitely thought I landed the cleaner punches.”
The boxers could not be separated after the first and the Russian went in one point ahead after the second, but Taylor insisted that she wasn’t concerned at that stage, before coming out to win the third 4-1 for 7-5 lead before the final round was scored level at 3-3.
“It was only one punch, only one point,” she said of the deficit after round two. “The last thing you do in that situation is panic because she’s a good counter-puncher and if you start panicking that’s when she’ll pick you off. I just had to stay calm all the way throughout the fight. It’s just a point really. You can easily get that back.”
She was calm then, but not before the fight, when she was unable to eat because of “knot” in her gut.
“I was so nervous all day really. It’s the most nervous I’ve ever been for a fight naturally enough. I had a knot in my stomach all day but I tried to stay calm and composed throughout the whole day and tried to relax but it was hard to relax. I couldn’t even eat all day to be honest.
“I was so nervous but when I got in there it was just like any other contest except for the crowd, it was amazing.”
A devout Christian, Taylor insisted the journey to this stage of a remarkable career could not have been accomplished alone.
“I dreamt of this moment so many times before and now I just can’t believe the grace of God in my life right now,” she told RTÉ. “I just want to thank everyone for all their prayers. I said it yesterday, as well, with all the prayers over the last week. I’d be nothing without God.
“I’m here because of the grace of God in my life and because of Jesus in my life and without him I’d be nothing really. So praise God, thank you Jesus for such a great victory today.”
The weekly incomes of elderly people in Ireland down by 6%
The average weekly incomes of elderly people in Ireland fell by 6% between 2009 and 2010.
The average weekly incomes of elderly people fell by 6 per cent – or €25.63 – between 2009 and 2010, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office.
In 2009, the average weekly income of an elderly person – those aged over 65 – was €428.86, which fell to €403.23 in 2010.
This reversed an upward trend from 2004 when average weekly income was €289.06, according to the findings in a CSO thematic report on the elderly for the three years 2004, 2009 and 2010.
The Survey on Income and Living Conditions also reported the proportion of income coming from social transfers or welfare payments increased by almost 7 per cent from 56.8 per cent in 2004 to 63.4 per cent in 2010.
Earnings fell as a proportion of average income from 24.1 per cent in 2004 to 18.3 per cent in 2009 and to 12.7 per cent in 2010.
The report also noted the “at risk of poverty” rate for the elderly in 2010 was 9.6 per cent, the same as the previous year and a significant reduction compared to 2004 when those at risk of poverty represented 27.1 per cent of the elderly population.
Those in “enforced deprivation” – at 9.3 per cent of those over 65 – showed no significant change in 2010 from 2009 or 2004.
Enforced deprivation is defined as living in a household deprived of two or more of 11 indicators, which include having to go without heat during the last year because of lack of money; not having two pairs of strong shoes; and in terms of nutrition, not having a roast joint or its equivalent at least once a week.
The 22-page report said “in general, elderly people tend to experience lower levels of enforced deprivation than other groups in society”.
The report’s figures show almost 55 per cent of the elderly in 2010 were female. Just over 7 per cent were still working while just under 7 per cent had third level qualifications or higher.
Almost 56 per cent of those surveyed were married, almost 88 per cent lived in their own home and more than one third lived alone. A majority, almost 55 per cent, lived in an urban area in 2010.
In that year, almost 56 per cent of the elderly said they suffered from a chronic illness while almost 7 per cent said they had bad or very bad health.
Just over 43 per cent had private medical insurance in 2010 compared to 33.5 per cent six years earlier.
Republic of Ireland abandoning religion faster than almost all other countries
The Republic of Ireland is abandoning religion faster than almost every other country worldwide, a massive global survey on faith reveals.
Only Vietnam has seen a bigger drop in people declaring themselves to be religious over the past seven years, a period when the Catholic Church in Ireland has been rocked by sex-abuse scandals and a crisis of leadership.
Red C interviewed more than 51,000 people worldwide, including just over 1,000 people in the Republic.
An overwhelming 69% of Irish people declared themselves to be “a religious person” in the last survey conducted in 2005, but this has now plummeted to 47%.
Last night the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, said the results of the global index required “closer critical reading” but he acknowledged that it highlighted the challenges facing the Catholic faith in a changing Ireland.
“The Catholic Church, on its part, cannot simply presume that the faith will automatically be passed from one generation to the next or be lived to the full by its own members,” he said last night.
There was a need for strong ongoing education in the faith, he said, with a growing need for adult religious education to stop people drifting from the faith as they got older.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Catholic Communications Office said faith was not a “numbers game”.
And it said the latest survey contrasted sharply with last year’s census in the Republic, which found that 84% described themselves as Catholic, and just 5% said they had no religion.
But according to the latest research, the Republic is now in the top 10 for the number of people declaring themselves to be “a convinced atheist”.
Although this is still a minority group at 10%, it puts the country high in the global league table, and is a stark rise from 3% seven years ago.
The poll asked people, irrespective of whether they attended a place of worship, if they considered themselves to be religious, not religious, or an atheist.
However, the nature of the question may have affected the results — something the pollsters themselves admit.
They said that while there had been a 9% drop globally in the number describing themselves as “religious”, most people still felt part of the faith they grew up in.
However, it will still come as a blow to the Catholic Church in Ireland, and is the second survey in recent months to show massive alienation among the population.
A survey in February by market research group Amarach found the public at odds with the church hierarchy on a range of issues, including women clergy and married priests.
That survey, which questioned more than 1,000 Irish Catholics, found that 77% believed women should be ordained.
Nine out of 10 said priests should be able to marry. It also revealed just 35% went to church on a weekly basis.
However nothing has been done to address the crisis in the church in the six months since the Amarach survey was carried out.
The Catholic Communications Office was asked what actions had been taken by the bishops since the survey was published.
But a spokesman declined to comment, saying the study had been commissioned by the Association of Catholic Priests, a group of 800 clerics who are critical of the hierarchy.
Asked about the new Red C poll, the spokesman queried the language used by the poll.
“The word ‘religious’, if left unqualified, is too general to be used as the keyword in a survey questionnaire — especially in the Irish context — where people prefer words such as ‘spiritual’. Being ‘religious’ is a very subjective measurement,” said a spokesman.
“For example, in the Catholic Church, someone who attends Mass on a daily basis may not describe themselves as ‘religious’, yet they are outwardly a person of deep faith.”
Fr Brendan Hoban, a spokesman for the ACP, said the Red C results were “predictable enough” given the fall-off in Mass attendance and the drop in interest in the Catholic Church in recent years.
However, he said Irish Catholic numbers were “holding up markedly” and pointed to the Census figures and the 35% attending Mass on a weekly basis.
He suggested that the Catholic Church was “almost traumatised” by the scandals of the last 10 to 15 years, and this was affecting its ability to take steps to address declining religious observation.
“It’s so difficult for the bishops to provide leadership because, on the one hand, if they speak out, they are criticised, and if they don’t speak out, they are also criticised.”
Meanwhile, Michael Nugent of Atheism Ireland said the Red C poll showed people were rejecting the idea that atheism was an “extreme position”.
He said the figure of 10% of the population being atheists could be an under-estimation, as there were still people who did not believe in a God, but disliked the “atheist” label.
The Red C global poll also found that the richer you got, the less religious you defined yourself. Religiosity was higher among the poor, with people in the bottom-income groups 17% more religious than those in the top-earning groups.
NUIG University Galway launches a new dedicated student hotline
NUIG Galway is to open a dedicated hotline for first year students.
This will be the third year that the college has run the service, which is open to students, their parents and their advisers. It will run from Wed 15 August to Friday 28 September.
The initiative, which was launched in summer 2010 and was the first of its kind across the sector, has been specially designed to help incoming first year students make the transition to third level education.
With NUI Galway anticipating an intake of over 3,200 new students in September, a team of specially trained students will service the hotline Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm, and Saturday 18 and 25 August from 10am to 1pm.
The availability of the hotline coincides with the period of frantic activity and decision making that immediately follows the release of the Leaving Certificate results.
The hotline will be active throughout first year orientation on 8 and 9 September and will remain in service for two weeks after lectures begin on 10 September, providing students with a place to direct any conceivable query they encounter as they embark on their journey to NUI Galway.
The hotline team will provide an efficient, responsive service to callers and are expected to deal with numerous issues that are of concern to incoming first year students. Anticipated queries include points requirements for courses, first round offers, registering as a student of the University, start dates, fees and accommodation options.
A designated website for first years will also be updated on a daily basis detailing the information sought and fed through the new hotline. It will be a portal of specific information aimed at demystifying the first few weeks of university life.
“For every young person, the transition from second-level to third-level education represents a significant life-change, and whilst this is an exciting time, navigating your way through the change can sometimes be daunting,” said Stephen O’Dea, Admissions Officer at NUI Galway.
“The First Year Student Hotline has been set up therefore to provide information, guidance and support to all individuals involved in the transition process and we invite students, parents and advisors to avail of this service to make the passage to NUI Galway as smooth as possible.”
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