OVER 13 months have passed since Dean Clancy booked his Olympic place – and on Saturday afternoon the Sligo man will become the first Irish boxer to step between the ropes at Paris 2024.
From the team of 10 that arrived in the French capital on Monday, Clancy has been handed the toughest route to the medal stages after five Irish fighters received byes in Thursday’s draw.
There was no such luck for lightweight Clancy, who faces Obada Al-Kasbeh in the last 32. Should he manage to get past the 29-year-old Jordanian, a veteran of the 2016 Games in Rio, Clancy’s reward will be a date with one of the big medal favourites - and an all-too familiar foe – in Sofiane Oumiha on Monday.
Having brought home silver from Rio, as well as being a three-time World champion, fourth seed Oumiha is the most recognisable face on the French team. Inside the North Paris Arena, the crowd will be firmly in his favour, no matter who is in the opposite corner.
And the vastly experienced Oumiha already holds a win over his Irish opponent, having claimed a unanimous decision victory when they met at the semi-final stage of last year’s European Games in Poland.
Clancy, though, cannot afford to think that far ahead.
One of the five who secured their Olympic spots at last summer’s European qualifier, it has been a different sort of build-up to those team-mates who qualified either in Milan or Bangkok this year.
The 22-year-old, who announced his arrival on the international stage when landing gold at the 2021 European U22 Championships, has had to bide his time.
But the memories of watching Kellie Harrington and Aidan Walsh, both preparing for a second Olympics, showing off their medals three years ago remain engrained - and he would love a piece of that action in the French capital.
“I took a little time off [after qualifying] went on a few holidays, then I was back at it in August. We’ve been kept busy,” said Clancy, who boxes out of the Sean McDermott’s club in Manorhamilton, Leitrim.
“It’s a good environment because we all pushed each other on, regardless of who was qualified. We all had the same goal, and that was to get to Paris. We were obviously on different paths at the time, different training blocks, but having them gearing up for their qualifiers meant we had to stay with them – we couldn’t really take the foot off the pedal.
“As well, when I won U22 European gold, it was around the same time as Tokyo. They were gearing up for their qualifiers, I was doing a lot of rounds with Aidan – during Covid I wasn’t that sharp, then straight in with Aidan, 20-something rounds.
“When we came back in August, they were coming in with their medals, and [Irish coach] Damian [Kennedy] was telling us we were the next ones in line.”
In the case of Clancy and heavyweight Jack Marley, a bronze medallist at the same tournament who would add gold 12 months later, Kennedy’s prophecy came true.
That Clancy qualified for the Olympics on the day his grandfather, Tony White, was laid to rest back home in Sligo says plenty about his mental strength.
And he needed it after two doses of Covid saw him miss a crucial Irish Elite Championships at the beginning of this Olympic cycle, leaving him to watch and wait while others were given the chance to prove their worth.
“That put me in a position where I wasn’t technically number one – there was about a year-and-a-half where I didn’t get sent to a Worlds or Europeans... I suppose I probably wasn’t fully focused at the time.
“I have asthma and I was in bad shape [after getting Covid], it took me a while to get over; it put me in a weird position where I was a bit upset not getting sent to tournaments. But that pushed me on and gave me a bit more determination to get back to where I was.”
And when his chance eventually came, Clancy grabbed it with both hands.
After initially showing an interest in kickboxing – “I kept getting disqualified, I was punching too hard and I wasn’t kicking” – dad Jason brought him to the boxing club with older brother Jason jr.
It was just after London 2012, the image of Katie Taylor parading the Irish tricolour around the ring burned into his memory bank, that Clancy’s journey began. County, provincial then national success came, with the Olympic dream always lurking in the background.
“Watching Katie, it was amazing to look at.
“Thankfully I’ve had good habits from a young age, winning Connacht title, Irish title, European medal… as your career progresses, you have these stepping stones.
“And I remember dad saying ‘one day we’ll be going to an Olympics, whether that’s Tokyo or Paris I don’t know’ - but that was the end goal.”
RUNNING ORDER
Saturday, July 27
63.5kg last 32: D Clancy v O Alkasbeh (Jordan)
Sunday, July 28
71kg last 32: A Walsh v M Traore (France)
66kg last 32: G Walsh v A Hamori (Hungary)
92kg last 16: J Marley v M Bereznicki (Poland)
Monday, July 29
60kg last 16: K Harrington v A Mesiano (Italy)/G Ozem (Turkey)
Tuesday, July 30
54kg last 16: J Lehane v Y Chang (China)
Wednesday, July 31
57kg last 32: J Gallagher v C Paalam (Phillipines)
75kg last 16: A O’Rourke v E Wojcik (Poland)
Thursday, August 1
51kg last 16: D Moorehouse v W Lkhadiri (France)
Friday, August 2
57kg last 16: M Walsh v SK Staneva (Bulgaria)
