Daina Moorehouse appeared to most viewers the clear winner of her flyweight bout with home favourite Wassila Lkhadiri in Paris on Thursday evening.
The Dublin fighter was on top after the opening round, taking a 3-2 split of the judges' scorecards. Though one may have thought her margin to Lkhadiri was more decisive than that, the more startling surprise was yet to come.
Remarkably, despite having the measure of her French opponent in both round 2 and 3, Moorehouse was marked as the loser in both rounds and would astonishingly ultimately take a 4-1 loss on a split decision.
Less than 24 hours after fellow Irish fighter Aoife O'Rourke had lost out in contentious circumstances to Poland's Elzbieta Wojcik, this was an even more shambolic decision.
All of RTÉ's boxing pundits were in disbelief at the decision, as was Moorehouse herself. 2008 silver medallist Kenny Egan went as far as suggesting that the result could have been "pre-ordained," as he and Bernard Dunne struggled to make sense of the decision to hand victory to Lkhadiri.
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Egan and Dunne in disbelief with Daina Moorehouse loss
1 August 2024; Daina Moorehouse of Team Ireland, right, in action against Wassila Lkhadiri of Team France during their women's 50Kg round of 16 bout at the North Paris Arena during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Host Peter Collins would reference the infamous boxing controversies of Rio 2016 which irreparably damaged the reputation of the sport worldwide for many.
Kenneth Egan, who won silver at super-lightweight in Beijing, was unconvinced this was not a similar occurrence. He was absolutely furious dissecting the fight, saying that the decision was utterly "shameful."
It's absolutely shameful, to be honest with you.
We know the work that goes into the Olympics, it's so, so hard to get there. For it to be taken away just like that by five people sitting around the ring...
Was it already ordained for that French girl to win that fight before they even stepped into the ring? That's the way it looked to me.
Daina won that fight. We all know that in this studio, everyone in that stadium knows she won that fight. She boxed out of her skin.
We talked about it at the very start, she needed something very special to win the fight. She boxed out of her skin and won that fight tonight. Zaur's going bananas in the corner there and he knows rightly so.
That is wrong, it's a wrong decision, that's taken a medal away now from Daina Moorehouse.
Zaur Antia was indeed seething ringside, gesticulating wildly in the immediate aftermath of the results being announced. It was hard not to feel the same frustration.
Bernard Dunne shared Kenneth Egan's view in the studio, saying that serious questions had to be asked of boxing's governing bodies.
We were trying to score it here ourselves. It's hard for us to look at that decision they've given and the scores they've given per round against what we've just watched. It's ridiculous.
Daina in the first round was the only one to land punches. She was the only one to do any work!
To go into that atmosphere, to perform as she did, to do all that was asked of her, and to have it taken away. This new boxing taskforce that they have talks about "openness," talks about "transparency" - and then you see stuff like this.
Daina Moorehouse herself appeared utterly perplexed by the decision in her post-fight interview, saying that she felt she had done enough to win the fight.
'I don't know what they're judging by'
Daina Moorehouse gives her reaction after her contentious defeat in her last-16 bout to France's Wassila Lkhadiri#RTESport #Paris2024 #boxing
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The Dubliner said, "I don't know what they're judging by. The plan was to be in control. I've fought her before and I knew what to expect. I don't know, I just gave it all. I don't know, to be honest."
A bitterly disappointing evening for Daina Moorehouse, and one which will lead to further questions about the integrity of boxing at the Olympics. However, the Irish boxer can hold her head high after an outstanding performance in Paris.
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