He’s saying what we’re all thinking.
You would struggle to find a person in Ireland who didn’t think there was something fishy about the manner of Michael Conlan’s defeat by Russia Vladimir Nikitin.
It was a perfect storm of disappointment for Irish fans.
Our final medal hope of a hugely disappointing Games beaten in highly dubious circumstances by a Russian who arguably shouldn’t even be in Rio given the revelations that emerged that emerged about state-sponsored doping in Russia at the Sochi Games.
Michael Conlan has been robbed of his second Olympic medal https://t.co/1kAMIq1wgG
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 16, 2016
The history of Olympic boxing is littered with cases of injustice – remember Roy Jones Jnr, anyone? – and the move to electronic scoring system was meant to alleviate the threat of suspicion from judges’ decisions.
That system has been abandoned for these Games with a return to a more subjective scoring system based on the interpretation of individual judges.
It’s this system that will no come under intense scrutiny and Conlan’s brother and fellow boxer Jamie was in no doubt that corruption at the highest level was behind the Russian’s victory.
Jamie Conlan tweeted that Russia’s “cheating c***s paid for medals before the competition even started”.
He wasn’t the only one with this feeling.
Irish coach Eddie Bolger also alluded to rumours that have been circulating in the Olympic Village that Russian fighters had their names on certain medals before they even threw a punch.
"There's rumours around the village that names are on medals already but you don't want to believe that." Irish coach Eddie Bolger
— Kevin Byrne (@KevByrneBox) August 16, 2016
Certainly in his post-fight interview Michael Conlan seemed to agree that the result was anything but above board.
"Cheats" – Furious Michael Conlan slams AIBA after disgraceful decision https://t.co/udXHXaOZLi
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 16, 2016
Looks like this is one decision we’re going to be talking about for many years.
