IRELAND’S KATIE TAYLOR has secured at least a bronze medal after winning her Olympic debut fight with a comprehensive 26-15 score yesterday afternoon.
Reports in Irish media have – understandably – glowed in praise of her win, but Taylor’s success has also won praise in international Olympic coverage, particularly in terms of her promotion of the sport at the Games.
The Associated Press post-match report simply opens: “Women’s boxing already had a star. She just needed a stage.”
Rival wire service Reuters notes Taylor’s Irish support from “boisterous fans who raised the loudest roars of the Games”, writing that an Olympic official has confirmed that the decibel level at Katie’s match hit 113.7 – the highest yet of London 2012.
Meanwhile, The Guardian’s Esther Addley writes that the bout between Taylor and her defeated rival Natasha Jonas of Great Britain has put their sport firmly on the Olympic map: ”If women’s boxing was inaugurated on Sunday, it arrived on Monday, when the gender of the fighters was the least interesting thing about their contest.”
Describing her as an “Irish whippet”, USA Today’s Jon Saraceno writes that Taylor boxed “brilliantly” and “expertly thrashed her opponent”.
Bill Dwyre of the LA Times writes that Taylor has the talent to make the IOC sit up and take notice of the place women’s boxing should have in the Olympics:
Jonas was good, Taylor was better and won a clear decision. The place rocked, the show was magical and the media took note.Somewhere in the expensive seats, where the IOC relics sit, the noise presumably awakened at least one, who paid heed and will vote yes on women’s Olympic boxing next time.
The Olympic legend of Katie Taylor begins.
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