THE WHEREABOUTS of Olympic silver medallist Kenny Egan remained a mystery yesterday amid reports that he had left the country.
The boxer failed to show up for Ireland’s international amateur bout with the US at the National Stadium on Friday evening.
Liam Gaskin, Egan’s publicist, said he had no idea about his whereabouts. “With a bit of luck he’s just sitting on a beach somewhere trying to come to terms with it all,” he said.
Mr Gaskin said he thought the media focus on Egan’s social life may have contributed to the situation. “It’s completely out of character,” he said. “To me this is nothing to do with boxing and everything to do with what’s gone on since he came back [from the Olympics].”
His mother Maura told RTÉ radio yesterday that she hadn’t spoken to her son since Friday morning. “When the Olympics were over and everything died down, he wanted his life back,” she told Pat Kenny. “Then everywhere he went there was someone there with a photograph. Then the next day, stories in the paper – some of them true, some of them not true.”
Mrs Egan said there had been talk of her son pulling out of the international event due to an injured wrist, but she was unsure if that was true.
Updates apparently by Egan were posted to social networking site Twitter since he left Dublin, but Mr Gaskin cast doubt on their authenticity, saying it was not “Kenny’s language”. He suggested it may be a friend managing the account on the boxer’s behalf, with his permission.
Photographs and text updates posted to the Twitter profile yesterday evening indicated Egan may be in the US.
A spokesman for the Irish Sports Council said it would not comment on reports that Egan’s funding from the body may be at risk as a result of his no-show on Friday night.
It is understood, however, that there are no plans to cut his funding at this stage.
