Irish boxing coach, John Conlan, believes Michael O'Reilly has brought a "terrible thing" to Irish boxing and says his failed drug tests embarrassed the Irish boxing team.
O'Reilly failed a drug test during the build-up to the games and was sent home before admitting that he may have taken a banned substance and while these things are often monitored by coaches, Conlan explains that the Portlaoise fighter had not trained with the team for eight weeks.
"Michael O’Reilly hadn’t been with us for eight weeks," said Conlan. "We met him at the airport. And it was a big big shock to the team."
Irish boxing tends to be one of the strongest areas at the Olympics and Conlan says that O'Reilly's failed test shook the team and that they were all embarrassed by the news.
"There is no getting away from it. It has embarrassed us as a team," Conlan said.
"He embarrassed Irish boxing and brought a terrible thing to Irish boxing. We are very strict on anti-doping. We bring them [the boxers] to seminars and educate them constantly. We have zero tolerance. We were always ahead of everyone else."
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