Aidan Walsh’s Olympic bronze medal moment is revisited in the second video in a three-part mini docuseries from the Olympic Federation of Ireland.
It is today’s Daily Video from Sport for Business in a series where we look to bring you great visual content from Ireland and further afield.
This series reflects on some of the stories behind the Team Ireland Tokyo 2020 medallists. The Belfast boxer wrote his name in the annals of Ireland’s sporting greats when his arm was raised in the quarterfinals of the Men’s Welterweight boxing event at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
‘The Longest Ten Seconds’ explores Aidan Walsh’s journey to Olympic success.
Belfast boxing has a rich history, with Walsh’s bronze being one of ten Olympic boxing medals to return to Belfast, in the sport that has constituted over half of Team Ireland’s thirty-five Olympic medals.
In an evenly matched fight in his Olympic Quarter Final, with a guaranteed medal on the line for the winner, he took control of his opponent Merven Clair from Mauritius, eventually winning 4-1. Describing the intensity of the final ten seconds following the match, waiting for the verdict, Walsh said “The split second when there’s complete silence. The whole arena is waiting to announce who has won. It was like my whole life flashed before my eyes! Those ten seconds were like the longest ten seconds of my life.”
This is the second of three films that mark some of the moments behind Team Ireland’s Tokyo 2020 medallists. Last month the rise of the Women’s Four to Olympic bronze in rowing was released with ‘BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS’.
