Mullingar Olympians start out on journey of a lifetime

Three Mullingar athletes are about to embark on the journey of a lifetime in the coming days and weeks, when they finalise their preparations for participation in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.Already, two of the participants - boxers John Joe Nevin and John Joe Joyce - have set out for the Far East from Dublin with Team Ireland, while their fellow Mullingar native, distance runner Martin Fagan, will make his way to China on Sunday, August 3.The excitement is gathering in Westmeath, as the unprecedented reality of three Mullingar Olympic athletes finally sinks in.Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner this week, Mullingar boxer John Joe Joyce said that he was excited, but nevertheless keeping a cool head, in the run-up to his first bout at the Olympics" light-welterweight preliminaries on Sunday, August 10.'We"re flying out on Tuesday, probably through Paris and on to Beijing,' John Joe said.He explained that although they land in Beijing, they only stay there a few days before heading on for two weeks of training in Russia. The boxers will then return to Beijing on August 6.John Joe"s first fight is scheduled four days after his return to the Olympic Village in the Chinese capital, and although there"s plenty of media expectations, the St. Michael"s Athy clubman is keeping his thoughts firmly fixed on the task at hand.'I"ve had plenty of preparation: only last week we had an exhibition fight in Athy. Once I get to Russia and get a few spars in with the Russians, it"ll help me to get my head right for the first bout.'John Joe, who lost out to a Hungarian opponent in the EU championships in Poland recently, has said that he has learned a number of lessons from this experience. 'The EUs were a stepping stone, my entire focus for the past few months has been purely on the Olympics,' he remarked.Most of John Joe"s family will be on holidays at the Marian shrine in Lourdes, France when he begins his Olympic mission, from where prayers will undoubtedly be winging their way to China.