Darren Sutherland fights for his Olympic dream

This week nine Irish boxers are competing in Athens at the final qualification tournament for the Beijing Olympics, and among the hopefuls is DCU student Darren Sutherland.

The tournament is the last chance saloon for the 2007 EU Middleweight Champion to realise his own dream of competing at the Olympic Games.

Sutherland under performed at last years World Championships in Chicago, which also operated as the first of three qualification tournaments for the 2008 Olympics.

And last month, Sutherland was edged out in the quarter-final of the second qualifying tournament in Pescara, Italy, by England’s James DeGale, a fighter he had beaten three times before.

“I feel I got a bit of bad luck with the scoring in Italy,” says Sutherland. “I’ve watched the fi ght on tape since and I boxed really well, I thought I won every round but ended up losing by one point.

“I didn’t get rewarded with the scoring but I wasn’t disappointed with my performance level.”

After returning from Italy, Sutherland had to divert his attentions to winning the Irish Olympic boxoffs to earn a place on the Irish team to fi ght in the last qualifying tournament in Athens, which began on Monday.

Sutherland will enter the Athens tournament as the highest ranked middleweight, and his passage to Beijing will be helped by the fact that the best fighters in his division have already qualified.

In Athens, Sutherland must be a gold or silver medallist, or the winner of a third and fourth place play-off to seal his place at the Olympics.

The DCU fighter turns 26 in two weeks and is hoping for an early birthday present in Athens by sealing his place on the Irish team that will travel to Beijing in August.

He says: “On paper I should qualify but anything can happen, but the main guys in my division are already qualified.

“The Olympics is every boxers dream and I don’t intend to let it slip away in Athens. I’ve dreamed about competing at the Olympics since I was a kid and I want to get on the Irish team.”

Since his victory in the Irish Olympic box-offs - after his disappointment in Italy - Sutherland has pin-pointed a change in his mentality that has eradicated the “excess baggage.”

“Since the box-offs something radical has happened in my mind and I’ve started to focus on the things I can control like my performance, how I train and how I prepare.

“I can’t control my opponents, the crowd or the judges - I can only focus on myself.

“Something really clicked in my head and I don’t feel under any pressure because at the end of the day, I compete and I train for myself and nobody else, I don’t care what anybody else thinks.

“Now I’m really enjoying boxing and don’t feel any pressure at all going out to Athens.”

Sutherland feels he is in the best shape of his career, both mentally and physically and in retrospect feels the defeats he suffered in the other two Olympic qualification tournaments have been of overall

He says: “Had I of qualified in the World Championships I wouldn’t have addressed the issues that had been hindering my boxing and curtaining my enjoyment, but I’ve addressed those issues now.

“I feel I’m a better fighter now. I was over-thinking a lot but I’m redirected and ready to compete in Beijing because I’ll be able to handle the pressurised environment and everything that comes with it.

“Mentally I’m stronger, and had I not gone through the past experiences I wouldn’t have addressed the issues and wouldn’t be in this strong mental mind frame.”

The Athens tournament is Sutherland’s last chance saloon to realise his Olympic dream but he isn’t feeling the pressure on the eve of the biggest event of boxing career thus far.

“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail, which I think is true,” says Sutherland. “Confidence comes in preparation and once you’ve done everything before you compete, it is out of your control.

“I realised after that fight in Italy in February that the objective was still to qualify for Beijing, and if I bring the same level of performance to Athens there is no reason why I won’t qualify.

“I can’t wait to perform, and I know that if I focus on the factors I can control then there are very few boxers in the world that can live with me inside the ring – if I bring my ‘A’ game I will qualify.

“In my mind I’m already there, I know I’m going to get to Beijing and I’m preparing for the main event this summer – confi dence comes in preparation and I’m the best I’ve ever been.”

In the summer of 1992, Michael Carruth stood at the top of the winner’s podium to receive his welterweight gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics.

In the Pavelló Club Joventut de Badalona, the Dubliner cried tears of joy when his sporting dream came true, and to this day his victory represents Ireland’s only boxing gold medal at an Olympic games.

Sixteen years ago Carruth just about made the Barcelona Olympics as he captured the last available position at the final qualification tournament before the summer games began.

In the modern training facilities beside Dublin’s National Boxing Stadium, there is a plate on the wall recognising Ireland’s boxing elite, and Carruth’s name is inscribed under the title, Olympians.

He is joined on the list by Andy Lee - who fought in the Athens Olympics in 2004 – and Ireland’s two qualified boxers for this summer’s Beijing Olympics, John Joe Nevin and Paddy Barnes.

There’s ample space alongside such names on the Olympians list in the Irish boxers training complex, and Darren Sutherland may just have his name inscribed before August arrives.

The facts: what you need to know about Darren

• Category: Middleweight

• Weight: 75kg

• Club: St Saviour’s OBA

• Lived in Tottenham until aged 8

• Moved to the Caribbean until aged 12

• Started boxing at the age of 15

• Scouted by pro-boxing trainer, Brendan Ingle, at the age of 16

• Spent four years training in Sheffield

• Returned to in Ireland to do his Leaving Cert at 20

• Studies at DCU