Katie Taylor's Victory - the Reaction Across the World

Image: Guimo

Story by Mark Farrelly

She held the good will and dreams of a global community of sports fans, of well-wishers, and a nation of Irish men and women inside those gloves.

Over 8,000 Irish fans ascended on the ExCeL Arena, with even more supporters cramming the bars and streets nearby. And according to The Irish Times about 10,000 people made their way to Bray to watch their hometown hero. Why did they turn out, asks sportswriter Dan Wetzel?

They came because this might be the most perfect Irish story ever, and the Irish love stories.

The humble kid, mesmerized by her father shadow boxing in their kitchen along the Irish coast, winds up trained by dad in a sport few believed should even be allowed – a girl fight?

She turns into the four-time world champion, humble, hard-working, and wrapped, literally, in religion: “The Lord is my Savior and my shield,” her robe reads.

From Dan Wetzel

Below, Katie Taylor as a Twitter word cloud created by Steve Conlon; ‘I made this last night in Photoshop CS6 using the words which appeared most under the #katieTaylor hashtag, removing the pointless words. Ironically God sits on Katie’s right hand shoulder’ Steve said.



Image: Steven Conlon

The atmosphere in the arena was something akin to a World Cup final. Back home in Ireland, in offices, train stations, homes and even churches we sat together, on tenterhooks waiting for the result we so desperately wished for. Never have we felt so useless. There was nothing we could do except pray that Katie would achieve her dream.

A small girl standing near the jammed seats in the press section clapped her hands on either side of her face and stared wide-eyed and straight ahead in the way kids do when their entire being is consumed by one wish.

From Bonnie D. Ford

And then the result came.



Image: The Guardian

Newstalk’s Off the Ball radio show – with a little help from Blur, Jimmy Magee and Sean Bán Breatnach – perfectly encapsulated the build up, the nerves and the true joy Katie’s victory brought us:

http://soundcloud.com/off-the-ball/katie-taylor-olympic-champion

It still beggars belief. Katie Taylor is not a “sweetheart”, she is a gladiator. Only a gladiator could have carried the weight of a country’s expectations, and dealt with that pressure with such grace. This is why we love her.

For the Irish, Katie Taylor is more than a great athlete sprung from the native soil; people speak of her as if she has sprung from themselves, for she seems everyone’s sister, their daughter, their friend.

From The Globe and Mail


Image: Tiny Ark

Was it the greatest day in Irish sporting history? It has certainly taken its place at the top table.

For everyone in Ireland, visions of Katie Taylor draping herself in the Irish tricolour, sweat dripping, hands still taped, are now etched into their sporting folklore. As was Super Saturday for the Brits, this will be remembered as one of the pinnacles of Ireland’s global sporting endeavours.

From Phil Lutton

From everyone in the ExCel Arena, from the thousands who were in Bray, and from the millions of Irish fans who watched across the world, we have one simple message for Katie Taylor – thank you.

Below, we think think this sums up yesterday’s tense and exciting moment. H/T to Balls.ie



From Tiny Ark