Advertisement

London 2012: Introducing... Adam Nolan

Our athlete-by-athlete guide sizes up Wexford’s medal hope.

Adam Nolan with his gold medal in Trabzon. ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan

Event: Boxing 69KG

Who is he? The 25-year-old welterweight hails from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. The southpaw is a garda you won’t be messing with and he fights out of Bray, the same club as one Katie Taylor.

Road to London: As you can see in the picture, he is Ireland’s gold medal winner from the hotly contested Olympic qualifying tournament in Turkey.

With his London place already secured after a semi-final win, he went into the final against Patrick Wojcicki and narrowly beat the German after the level scores were recounted. Straightforward, right?

What he says about himself: In an interview with the Irish Independent he said: “To be honest, the Olympics were the last thing on my mind. Because I still had to come through the national seniors. The four fights I had in Ireland were every bit as hard as what I had in Turkey”

He later added:”I’m happy just to be an Olympian. But as it gets closer I know I’ll want to win a fight. Then another fight. Then I’ll say, ‘Jesus, if I win this one I’ll have a chance of a medal’. That’s the way it goes. You’re just never happy.”

What they’re saying on the internet: “Adam is deceptively good. Tall, rangey, wicked fast left hand, which is straight as an arrow. He will be a tough fight for any man in London.” WalshB (boards.ie)

Medal chances: As he says himself, winning the national and Olympic qualifying titles could prove tougher than many of the opponents he meets in London.

However, he has come from relative obscurity to this point over recent months and the result is that he will be unseeded when the draw is made later this month.

Still, with a gold already tucked away from Turkey he knows what it takes to up his game at the right moment. Four thumbs up from Jimmy.

On the Twitter: Unfortunately not, suppose it’s best for a man in his line of work.

If you meet him in a bar, ask him about… his hurling with Oulart The Ballagh. When the boxing is over he plans to return and swap his soft helmet for a hard one.

If he was a YouTube video he would be... no contest.

YouTube credit: ness1tn

Read more of TheScore’s “London 2012: Introducing” series here >

Close
6 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Mannion
    Favourite Sean Mannion
    Report
    May 30th 2017, 5:22 PM

    The Sport Ireland statement is a strange one “he bore no significant fault or negligence”- While I’d doubt he intentionally took the substance it was most definitely negligent not to check with the team nutritionist if the substance was legal or not

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Diarmuid
    Favourite Diarmuid
    Report
    May 30th 2017, 6:19 PM

    Brendan O Sullivan got off lightly. Would the sports council have been so lenient if he was an athlete or cyclist.
    No one forced O Sullivan to take the illegal supplement. It was the height of stupidly not to check with the team doctor.
    As for Marc O Se to say he was unaware of O Sullivan’s use of an illegal supplement. Did he never ask where’s Brendan?

    51
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eoghan O'Sullivan
    Favourite Eoghan O'Sullivan
    Report
    May 30th 2017, 7:16 PM

    @Diarmuid: the banned substance was not in a supplement but in a sports drink, similar to Lucozade sport. That’s why he got off so lightly

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marks Awarded
    Favourite Marks Awarded
    Report
    May 30th 2017, 6:21 PM

    Kimmage will be all over this like a rash. “Now hang on Joe! This is important!”

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chicken George
    Favourite Chicken George
    Report
    May 30th 2017, 7:10 PM

    @Marks Awarded: he was on the same time as O Se and you’re correct. That’s exactly how it went

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lord Clanricarde
    Favourite Lord Clanricarde
    Report
    May 30th 2017, 8:11 PM

    OSullivan had no idea what he took, it was in a drink. I believe that.

    What I dont believe is Marc O’Se saying he had no idea, thats bullsh!t.

    But fair play to the Kerry boys for closing ranks and keeping this quite. Best of luck to anyone who can beat these, that sort of loyalty and respect is hard to beat!!

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute R Gally
    Favourite R Gally
    Report
    May 31st 2017, 12:55 AM

    Imagine if this was Diarmuid Connolly or another Dublin player.. Ud have fools tarnishing they’re All Ireland wins .. If its Kerry its ok just a mistake

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Twomey
    Favourite Michael Twomey
    Report
    May 31st 2017, 5:29 PM

    Kerry didn’t win an AIl Ireland last year.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.