Sport

COMMON TOUCH

As hopefuls target Ulster Seniors glory, Commonwealth gold medal winner Jim Webb takes a trip down memory lane to the unforgettable summer of 1994...

THERE are some images that perfectly encapsulate the defining moments of major sporting occasions.

From Usain Bolt streaking across the finish line at the London 2012 Olympics, to the uncontrollable ecstasy of Marco Tardelli's wild celebration after helping Italy on the way to World Cup glory in 1982, a picture can often live much longer in the memory than the event itself.

At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in the Canadian city of Victoria, Jim Webb provided that moment. Standing in the middle of the podium, the Belfast boxer battled gamely to hold back the tears as Northern Ireland team doctor, Sean Donnelly, held the auditorium spellbound with an emotionallycharged rendition of Danny Boy. Webb, like many in the crowd and at home, could only contain his emotions for so long.

The Canadian Tourism Commission used the footage in their post-Commonwealth Games marketing material - an illustration of the strength of feeling that success in the world of amateur sport can engender.

With the Ulster Elite Senior Championships just around the corner (January 27-31), a new generation of hopefuls go in search of their Jim Webb moment as they chase the Commonwealth dream, with all those competing no doubt having an eye firmly fixed on this summer's Games in Glasgow.

For Webb, though, his journey in 1994 still seems like yesterday. Indeed, Victoria holds special memories for the entire Ulster boxing fraternity, as Holy Family's Neil Sinclair also collected gold, while Martin Renaghan (Keady) and Mark Winters (Antrim) picked up silver.

Webb remembers every bump on the road that took him there, everyone who helped him along the way, from his first club, Oliver Plunkett, on to the Hawkins brothers at Holy Trinity - Michael and Harry - to legendary Holy Family trainer Gerry Storey, and not forgetting Jimmy Clinton from the St George's club.

They all played their part.

Aged 24, and having been knocked out at the quarter-final stages of the previous Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand four years previous, Webb was already beginning to contemplate life after boxing.

After narrowly defeating an 18-year-old Brian Magee - a fellow Holy Trinity man - in the Ulster Seniors final in 1994 to pick up his sixth provincial title, Webb knew his days as an amateur were coming to an end. "I turned pro straight after the Commonwealths because, let's face it, the kid [Magee] would have been stronger and sharper by the next year and he probably would've beaten me anyway. I knew he was an up-and-coming star and I was happy to get the win and leave it at that!" said Webb. "It was a very close fight, 17-15 or 16-15, and if the decision had gone his way, I couldn't have argued. I knew he was a special talent."

Webb won the light-middleweight title at the Irish Nationals down in Dublin a month later, this time being spared a rematch against Magee who had fallen in the last four, and from then on it was about making the most of his last hurrah in Canada.

Michael Hawkins and Gerry Storey put aside any club rivalries to lead the Northern Ireland team; Webb was made captain - "no pressure!" - and his main aim was just to be on that podium. Not in his wildest dreams had he imagined winning gold.

Even so, after watching the record stick during Wayne McCullough's medal presentation in Auckland, Webb made sure he wouldn't be caught out if he did achieve the unthinkable. "With Wayne, some fella from the crowd came up and sang. I asked Sean [Donnelly] before if he would sing Danny Boy if I won gold. I doubt either of us thought it would come to that, but he said he would..." Having made it through to the semi-final, a step further than in Auckland and with a guaranteed medal, the pressure was off. The draw was unkind, though, as Webb was paired with world number three Rival Cadeau from the Seychelles.

He feared the worst - until lady luck shone on him. Webb picks up the story. "This guy was really tasty and when I drew him I just thought, 'ah sh*t - I'll just get in and do the best I can'," he recalls. "I was quite superstitious, and there was one thing in particular that was just non-negotiable - that my opponent got in the ring first. "Mickey Hawkins had known from that afternoon that Cadeau hadn't weighed in at the required time, but he kept it from me. "So I walked up to the ring and stopped, waiting. Mickey whispered into my ear: 'Get in the ring'. Here's me, 'not a chance in hell'. "Gerry then told me my opponent hadn't turned up for the weigh-ins and I needed to get in the ring because the rule was that, if you were in the ring for three minutes and your opponent didn't show, your hand was raised. "I've never moved so fast - superstition went out the window!

It was the most tense three minutes of my life, just waiting... If he had shown, I would have been totally drained. But thank God, he didn't show. "After I got out of the ring, I got out of my gear and got out of the arena..."

And as he headed for a walk from the village, who should he see pulling up to the arena? "Just as I was walking out I saw Cadeau's bus pulling in and I just thought 'there's not a chance I'm going back there!' I got out of there as fast as I could."

Quite apart from avoiding the best boxer left in the competition, Webb was as fresh as a daisy going into the 71kg decider.

Better still, the other semi-final between Samoan Bob Gasio and Scotland's Joe Townsley had been all-out warfare from the first bell.

By the time the final came around, Gasio was gassed and Webb boxed smart to secure the gold medal. The whole day, from start to finish - Webb remembers it all. "The atmosphere was amazing because we'd four boys going for gold that night. It was electric, it really was. I still get emotional thinking about it now... I would never have believed I'd have been in a final, never mind winning gold. "When Sean sang Danny Boy, it broke my heart. It was the proudest moment of my life, next to my first son being born. "Right after the fight, I phoned back home and the Whitefort Inn in Andersonstown [where Webb worked the door at weekends] had closed for the night and everybody came back up to my mum and dad's. "The fight wasn't on until one in the morning or thereabouts, so the house was filled from front to back, the breweries had supplied beer kegs and everybody was having a good time."

And the party didn't stop there. The successful Northern Ireland team returned home at the end of August 1994 - the day before the IRA announced its ceasefire.

The welcoming committee lined the streets around Webb's Andersonstown home, the sun was splitting the trees.

Life had never seemed so good. "I was being carried on peoples' shoulders past the house. There was a real sense of fresh air about the place. It was totally unforgettable."