Event: Women’s boxing, 60kg
Who is she? Taylor is perhaps the defining sportswoman of her generation with no less than five World Boxing Championship titles to her name on top of a whole host of other successes.
Where’s she from? The 30-year-old is a proud daughter of Bray, Co Wicklow.
Olympic CV: Not only was Taylor the flag-bearer for Ireland at the 2012 Games, she went on to win the lightweight title in London, beating Russia’s Sofya Ochigava in the final.
Road to Rio: Perhaps surprisingly, Taylor’s path to Rio and the defence of her title was not as smooth as it might have been.
The Wicklow woman was left stunned by a shock loss to Azerbaijan’s Yana Alekseevna in the European Olympic qualifying event semi-final in Turkey in April, her first defeat since 2011.
Taylor eventually qualified by beating Victoria Torres in the quarter-finals of this year’s World Championships but, two days later, lost to long-term rival Estelle Mossely in the semi-finals which ended her quest for a sixth World title in succession.
When does she start? Taylor’s prelim will take place on the afternoon of Friday 12 August.
Where can I follow her? You can find her on Twitter: @KatieTaylor
What she says:
I always go to these competitions with the aim of bringing back a gold medal.The loss came at the wrong time for me but she’s a fantastic boxer. She deserved it but I’ll come again.”
Taylor reacted to her shock defeat earlier this year by promising The Sun she would bounce back.
Medal chances? Her form coming into Rio has been far from ideal but Irish fans and Taylor herself will be hoping to prove the old adage about class being permanent when she steps into the ring in Brazil.
Still, there should be no question that Taylor will win at least a bronze so she scores the maximum five out of five on The42‘s scientifically-developed, patented Jerry Kiernan scale…
And here’s something you probably didn’t know: Taylor’s first ever win was on 31 October 2001 when she beat Belfast’s Alanna Audley 23-12 in what was the first-ever women’s boxing bout sanctioned by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association.
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