John Joe's dream came true

Mullingar boxer John Joe Nevin admits that he is still coming to terms to life as an Olympic silver medalist.John Joe and his fellow Westmeath Olympian Joseph Murphy from Ballymore were given a hero's welcome from the the thousands of people that lined the streets of the town and packed into Cusack Park.Speaking to the Examiner, John Joe said that he was bowled over by the support that he has received from the people of Westmeath both during and after the Olympics."It's a dream come true for me and it hasn't really sunk in yet. The crowd is fantastic. You wouldn't see that in an all Ireland hurling final."A feature of John Joe's Olympic journey was the maturity that he displayed both in and out of the ring. London was his second successive Olympics and the 23 year old bantamweight says that he was eager to make the most of it."I wanted to enjoy this Olympics. I was 19 at the last one and I put a bit of pressure on myself but no matter what, this time I said I was going to enjoy myself. That was why I came into the ring with a smile in my face."Although he impressed throughout the tournament, the young bantamweight revealed that his semi-final victory of the Cuban world champion Alvarez was his personal highlight of the tournament."It is my best ever performance. Beating a world champion and beating him handy. Even throwing the Mullingar Shuffle along with it. I was delighted with the performance."After the high of Friday evening, John Joe had to refocus himself quickly for his final bout with the eventual gold medal winner Luke Campbell from England. His attempts to beat the highly rated English fighter received a set back in the first round."We didn't say anything but I twisted my ankle in the first round of the final. We didn't say anthing because we didn't want to use it as excuse. We never mentioned it before today because the better man won on the day."Although he was initially "gutted" at losing the final, John Joe says that he can now see his achievement for what it is."The nature of the beast means that you always want to win more but I got so far I feel amazing now. A silver medal - I would have given my right hand for it or a bronze medal at the start. I'm over the moon with it."