Dark Horse Davey not going to Rio just to take part

David Oliver Joyce might be almost the complete opposite of ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor, but the softly-spoken and humble Athy/Mullingar lightweight shares a similar mantra.

Joyce is going to Rio as an admitted dark horse but isn’t just heading to Brazil to take part, he’s going to win a medal.

At 29, the St Michael’s man will be one of the oldest in the field at the Riocentro, and he explained to IABA TV how his relatively advanced years works both ways as “I’m one of the dark horses going to the Olympic Games because of my age, but I’ve got a lot of experience, I’ve a lot of experience.”

“I’ve been years at this game, I know what to expect.”

“I’m not going there just to take part in the Olympic Games, I’m going to bring back a medal.”

Joyce realised a dream that had been battered plenty of times back in April. So often denied, sometimes unjustly, the Midlander qualified for the Olympic Games with a win over home fighter Volkan Gokcek in Turkey at the European Olympic Qualifier.

Describing his long road to Rio, the triple EU gold medalist notes how “it’s been a long journey.”

“I’ve been trying since 2007 and Beijing.”

“I had a lot of ups and downs and times where you wanted to just forget about it.”

“But I kept pushing away, my dream was to go to an Olympic Games and finally it’s all happening.”

Indeed while he was joyous when the result was read out in Samsun, Joyce jokes that the fact he is now an Olympian “doesn’t feel real until I am in the Olympic Village, when I’m in the Olympic Village and have boxed in the Olympic Games, then it will feel real.”

Watch David Oliver Joyce’s interview with IABA TV in full below: