Facts matter, not opinions says Zaur – Promises to identify cause of Rio disappointment

Zaur Antia has released a statement following one of Irish boxing’s most disastrous (results-wise) Olympics ever.

No medals were plundered from Rio for an array of reasons, and back home in Ireland many voiced displeasure with the results.

Antia, thrust into the position of High Performance head coach following the departure of Billy Walsh, admits that the Games have been a disappointment and has promised a thorough analysis to identify the factors behind the performances in Brazil.

The Bray-based Georgian also placed an emphasis on facts, part of the HPUs ‘controlling the controllables’ mantra, and seemed to aim at jab at those voicing dissenting opinions. Antia noted that “lots of people have lots of opinions and they have voiced these. They are entitled to their opinions but in high performance sport it’s facts that matter and not opinions.”

The Irish Athletic Boxing Association “fully supports” Antia’s words.

The statement in full reads:
“Nobody works harder than we do and nobody is more disappointed than we are at coming home with no medals. We set very high standards for ourselves as we demand very high standards from our boxers, our coaches and support staff. These are the standards that have delivered Olympic, World and European medals.”

“There are many factors behind our performances at these games. Some have been well documented and others we will identify in our debrief and analysis that will be very thorough. Lots of people have lots of opinions and they have voiced these. They are entitled to their opinions but in high performance sport it’s facts that matter and not opinions.”

“When we have all the facts I will be happy to share these but I will be sticking with facts and I shall leave opinions to those who don’t live and work every day in a high performance environment.”