IN A WEEK when two former Olympians spoke openly about their disillusionment with their chosen sport, Katie Taylor’s hunger and desire remains unwavering as she prepares to qualify for Rio.
In an honest interview with The42 last weekend, former world track champion Martyn Irvine revealed how he had fallen out of love with cycling while swimmer Gráinne Murphy called time on her career on Tuesday at the age of 22.
The physical and mental demands of professional sport can often become too much, particularly for an individual athlete, as the appetite for success wanes.
But five-time world champion Taylor is as focused as ever and she admits the quest for betterment fuels her burning desire for more titles.
“I feel like I’m getting better, I feel like I’m improving,” she said. “I’m on the right track going forward and with six weeks to the Olympic qualifiers, everything is going well and I’m looking forward to hopefully qualifying.
“That’s the beauty of sport really, you never stop improving and you’re never a perfect boxer and you always have things to improve on.
“I definitely believe I’m a better boxer now than I was four years ago and you haven’t seen the best of me yet and that’s really exciting for me going forward.”
Taylor returned to the ring last weekend as she stepped-up her preparations for the Olympic qualifiers in Istanbul. The Bray boxer made light work of the challenge posed by Jelina Jelic and Queen Underwood.
The latter, an American lightweight, admitted afterwards that Taylor is becoming an even better boxer as she recorded her 61st consecutive victory.
Yet complacency isn’t an issue for the 29-year-old, who remains as humble, hard-working and concentrated as ever.
“I definitely feel very lucky to be waking up to be doing something I love doing,” she continued.
“The hunger is definitely still there and I don’t find it hard to motivate myself and I just want to be the best female boxer in the world and I want to add to the legacy I suppose and every time I go into competition now I have the chance to make history so I’d love to be a history maker.
“I suppose experience is everything isn’t it and you do definitely learn from those big competitions and learn how to do with the pressure a bit more as well.
“I don’t think I’ll ever feel the amount of pressure I did in London again but it’s always there.
“Everyone wants to get that off you and I suppose nothing is as big as the pressure you put on yourself and I definitely go into every competition believing and hoping to win a gold medal and anything less than that would be a big disappointment for me.”
It’s not yet known whether Taylor’s father, Pete, will return to her corner should she qualify for this summer’s Games.
Taylor’s Irish title win over Shauna O’Keefe last November was the first time in a decade she didn’t have her father by her side after he decided to take a break.
“I’m training with Zaur the whole time in the High Performance centre,” she explained.
“It took me a few weeks to adapt to everything but I feel the infrastructure that I have around me is definitely getting the best out of me. It’s going smoothly and I’m delighted with how my preparations are going.
“Zaur has been there from the get-go, he’s been in my corner from the start and he knows everything that I’m about, he knows me inside out at this stage, you wouldn’t want to be making big changes in such a big year.
“I’m delighted to be working with Zaur, he’s the best coach in the world.
“My dad is just obviously taking a bit of a break and he decided to take that break and when he’s ready to come back, I’ll be delighted to welcome him back but for the time being I have a great support system around and great infrastructure and Zaur is absolutely brilliant.
“In Turkey you have to get to the final so it’s only two that qualifies from that competition and then two again in the World Championships so there’s no room for mistakes really.
“At the moment, my focus is just on the qualifiers in April so I’m not even thinking about the World Championships yet.
“I’m hoping I won’t need to qualify during the World Championships but the qualifiers in April are the big competition for me and all my focus is on that.”
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