Audley takes gold number 10

13 April 2012

Audley Harrison grabbed Great Britain's 10th gold medal of the Sydney Olympics by beating Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov in the super-heavyweight division at Darling Harbour.  

The Londoner's victory gave Britain their first double figure golden haul since the 1920 Games in Antwerp.

Harrison, who won by the convincing 30-16 margin over the man from Kazakhstan, fought with a swollen left hand after medical check-up.

British coach Ian Irwin revealed that there had even been fears that Harrison would be denied the chance of his historic win due to the injury.

He said: "Every boxer has to pass the doctor each day he competes and the hands are inspected.

"Fortunately the inspection on the hands this morning wasn't too thorough and the doctor saw him through.

"We've had tremendous support from the BOA medical and physiotherapy department. They've been working on it and it was reasonably comfortable.

"A lot of the swelling disappeared through the good work of the BOA physiotherapy team and doctors and we reduced that swelling to a minimum."

Harrison is the first British boxer to win a gold medal since Chris Finnegan won the middleweight title at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968.

The 28-year-old who intends to turn professional after the Games dominated the fight and forced his opponent to take a standing count in the first round.

Harrison said: "It was tough, four fights in a week.

"I've had a little problem with my knuckle, which went on my second fight, but I kept it to myself and didn't tell anyone about it and I showed that I could still pull it out today.

"The staff at the BOC and the people at the British Olympics Association have been great and fixed me up.

"It was a comprehensive win. I was working well, there were lots of open targets and I knew I was always going to be catching him.

"It's a shame I had the bad hand or I would have taken him out.

"The hand was hurting bad enough that I had to put a jab in it to keep the pain off, all above board of course. It was really bad this morning, the size of an apple.

"Everyone knows that's my power hand, my left cross is my power hand, so it was like going to war with that gun missing. But I showed I was going to go through with it no matter what.

"The win is the most important thing. I'm a very happy man."

"I said it was my destiny and I proved I'm not just a man who can talk, I'm a man who can deliver the goods as well.

"I'm not going to make any plans now I'm just going to enjoy this moment. This is a special moment. This is the Olympic Games.

"Then I'm going to go away, get myself fixed up and you'll be hearing a lot more from Audley Harrison."

Harrison's win was given the ultimate seal of approval by world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, who acknowledged that overcoming an injury was "the mark of a champion".

Holyfield added: "He did great. He did what was necessary.

"The guy he fought was kind of awkward but he established his long jab, he built the points and a couple of times he had him out.

"Boxing will probably be over in a year for me, but I'm sure this is a future great."

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