Michael O’Reilly likely to face four-year boxing ban

When the process finally plays out and the Michael O’Reilly story becomes one of the distant casualties of the Rio Games, the young middleweight will look back and recognise that he made the biggest mistake of his life.

His future in the sport is bleak and his income from boxing will almost immediately dry up.

O’Reilly (23) will lose the €20,000 in state funding he was due for the remainder of this year. He is part of a podium grant system, of which half of the €40,000 has been paid. He will not receive third- and fourth-quarter instalments.

For a boxer who came into Rio as a European Games champion and a medallist at World Championship level, O’Reilly could have expected to turn professional after Rio as a medal winner. Being seeded third in the tournament was recognition of his ability, and an Olympic medal was a realistic aim.

Going pro

On the back of a medal and handled correctly by the right management team, O’Reilly would have had a ready-made platform to launch a professional career with a view towards a world title fight in his late 20s.

He has said that his positive sample was a result of taking a supplement given to him by “someone unrelated to his team or his association”. His solicitor, despite the constant warnings to athletes not to do so, will strongly make the point that it was a mistake.

In the majority of such cases, that “mistake” excuse is not persuasive. O’Reilly is staring at the longer ban, meaning he may not be allowed back into the sport until he is 27.

During that time he will not be allowed to associate or compete against any boxers in the Irish system, nor will he be allowed to compete against anyone outside of Ireland.

The speed of the hearing, which is being prosecuted by the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) and Sport Ireland, will largely be determined by O'Reilly's legal representative.

The breadth of their case and what issues they wish to raise in trying to prove that O’Reilly’s positive sample was an error of judgement and innocently intended, may take days or weeks.

As the unnamed banned drug was in his system, the onus of proof in the matter is on the athlete and his solicitor.

By its nature, the hearing is part of an adversarial system – and in these tangles athletes tend to be cut loose and left on their own. Despite what they may feel about it, Irish boxing may consider ensuring there is a support system in place because O’Reilly’s career has probably been destroyed.

That won't happen, because those who might have thought of "grief management" are not there anymore. Billy Walsh and Garry Keegan, who had been involved in setting up the elite boxing program, are gone.

Keegan's holistic way of thinking is no longer part of the culture. It was after Beijing that Keegan, who will leave the Irish Institute of Sport next month to set up his own business, said boxing had failed Kenneth Egan. The one thing they had overlooked when the 2008 Olympics concluded, he said, was managing success.

After winning a silver medial, Egan came back to Ireland a celebrated athlete. He was ill-prepared for what faced him, became tabloid fodder and fell into a downward spiral of drink and drugs. Thankfully, he is now healthy and rehabilitated.

Embarrassed Ireland

O’Reilly arrives to the backdrop of public opprobrium, with Minister for Sport Shane Ross declaring that the country was “embarrassed” by his actions.

The question arises about what boxing has learned from Egan and what system is in place for a crushed athlete and a devastated sporting life. How will the Irish system manage that?

As de facto head of Sport Ireland, which conducted the positive test and in this instance caught a big fish, Ross is in the loop and would know exactly what illegal substance was found in the boxer’s “A” sample.

Knowing the name of the product is in the public interest, as O’Reilly’s career has been State-supported with taxpayers’ money. That will be the next stage of this sorry saga.