Boxing:Katie Taylor has described her qualification for the London Olympic Games as a "dream come true" after making the semi-finals of the AIBA World Women's Championships in China without having to throw a punch.
The Bray fighter’s long road to qualification come to fruition in Qinhuangdao after her Romanian opponent, Mihaela Lacatus, failed a medical on a neck injury and was ruled out of the quarter-finals in the 60kg lightweight division.
Taylor had already made it to the ring for the bout, but still faced an anxious wait to find out if she had qualified, needing one of the other four European boxers to lose her quarter-final as only three would gain Olympic places.
The 25-year-old didn’t have to wait long as Mavzuna Chorieva of Tajikistan beat Estelle Mossely of France to set up a semi-final meeting with Taylor on Friday, the first time the two boxers will meet. The fight will be shown live on RTÉ Two television from 8am.
Celebrating with her father and coach, Peter, and the rest of the Irish team in China, an emotional Katie said: “It’s a dream come true, I just can’t believe it really. It’s just years and years of hard work really to get here, now I’m going to be an Olympian.”
With the pressure of qualification now off her shoulders, Taylor’s ambition is to claim a fourth successive world title on Sunday.
“We’ll enjoy this walkover today and this qualification but tomorrow it’s back to focusing on the semi-finals,” said Taylor, who undertook a training session after receiving the walkover.
“It's important to go into the Olympics as the current world champion so that’s going to be a huge motivation as well.”
Her father 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.
Russia’s Sofya Ochigava and England’s Natasha Jonas, who both won this morning, are also through to the last four and all three will compete at the London Games.
Taylor is the sixth Irish boxer to qualify and second from the Bray Boxing Club alongside Adam Nolan. Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan, John Joe Nevin and Darren O’Neill will also be in London.
Women’s boxing will make its debut at London Games in three weight categories - flyweight, lightweight and middleweight.