The Return Of Ireland's Heroic Olympians

Ireland's Olympic heroes returned from China to a hero's welcome on Tuesday morning with crowds in the hundreds waiting for them at Dublin Airport.

Boxers Kenny Egan, who won a Silver Medal and Paddy Barnes and Darren Sutherland, who won Bronze, were greeted by the Sports Minister Martin Cullen, T.D., the Chinese Ambassador, John Treacy of the Irish Sports Council and Dublin's Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne.

The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen sent a message of congratulations to Kenny Egan saying, "Kenny fought a brave fight and gave everything in a wonderful bout of top class boxing. "Not only did Kenny do us proud in the ring but he was also an inspirational captain throughout the whole boxing tournament.

"Kenny and our two other medalists Paddy Barnes and Darren Sutherland can be truly be proud of their achievements. They have done themselves and Ireland proud."

He also paid tribute to all of the Irish Olympians, and their trainers, who worked so hard over the last few years on the road to the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Martin Cullen, T.D., Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism also congratulated Egan on reaching the light heavyweight boxing final of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Minister Cullen TD said: "I want to congratulate Kenny Egan on his tremendous performance in the Worker's Gymnasium [on Sunday evening].

"His comprehensive victory was achieved with class and style. He was relentless in pursuit of victory."

The Minister also expressed his overall satisfaction saying: "The story of this Olympics is clearly the success of our boxers.

"To have sent five boxers and for two of them to win bronze medals and now to find ourselves seeking gold is a fantastic achievement.

"While there has been serious disappointment with the disqualification of Denis Lynch and Lantinus in the equestrian event, that is now a matter for due process and must not and should not overshadow the boxing performances.

"All sports loving people throughout the island of Ireland salute our boxers for their great personal achievement and the way they have lifted the spirit of the country.

"We now look forward to our team captain Kenny Egan who has led by example, fighting for the gold medal and we wish him all the success in the world which he richly deserves.

"Since 2003, funding from the Irish Sports Council has enabled the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) to put in place a high performance programme.

"This programme and the support of everybody involved have contributed significantly to Ireland's boxers' performances - with results improving dramatically in this period.

"Five of our boxers qualified for the 2008 Games - a remarkable achievement considering how difficult it is to qualify.

"Two bronze medals and one silver medal in one sport is a breathtaking haul. The abiding Irish memory from the 2008 Olympics will be the world class performances of the Irish boxing team."

In Sunday's bout, China's Zhang Xiaoping won his country's second-ever Olympic Boxing gold medal in the light-heavyweight class..

The bout between Zhang and Egan was hard-fought and intense from the beginning to the end.

The first round saw the two boxers hustling each other and exchanging punches, but Zhang won the round 2-0.

The Irish boxer fought back in the next two rounds, with the boxers scoring the same amount of points in rounds, 3-3 and 2-2.

Egan was equally aggressive in the last round but Zhang, cheered on by a boisterous home crowd, landed another four stinging point-scoring punches to claim the title.

"I'm really excited," said Zhang, "before the Olympic Games, I was just a normal athlete but now I am a gold medalist. I was perfect today and did very well psychologically and physically. Throughout the Games, I fought with 100 per cent of my skills.

"I put myself in a low position and tried my best to fight against my opponent."

Egan himself was disappointed by his performance telling The Irish Times, "Ah, the whole arse has fallen out of it now, to be honest. I know an Olympic silver medal is brilliant and all but I thought I had the beatings of the guy. Olympic silver medallists are very rare.

"I am proud to be Irish, proud to have a silver medal, but it's always nice to get the gold.

"The score is the score. I have to settle for silver. I'm disgusted but that's sport. There has to be a loser."