"It was crazy," says Kenneth Egan, thinking back now about the 2008 Olympic Games.
"In all of my career, and all the competitions I've boxed in - I was one of the most senior boxers on that team and I came through Dublin Airport many times with medals - it was the best two weeks of boxing that I've ever produced, and it was on the biggest stage."
Egan won light heavyweight silver in Beijing. It was one of three boxing medals Ireland picked up that year, along with bronzes for Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes.
The Irish boxing team were a tight group of five, John Joe Nevin and John Joe Joyce also competed. There was no talk of medals. Well, except for Paddy Barnes.
"I think Paddy Barnes was talking about how he was going to win a gold medal, alright, but that's Paddy!" says Egan with a laugh.
"One round at a time, one fight at a time, was the mantra we had.
"It stopped me ruminating and thinking too far down the line because I had a terrible habit of doing that in previous competitions, looking at the fight where I could win the medal, or qualify.
"That was the worst part of my career, trying to qualify. I wanted it so bad, that it nearly killed. To qualify in Athens a couple of months previous took the pressure off. All I wanted was to be an Olympian, that's all, wear the tracksuit with the five rings. I'd missed out four years previous.
"With the process I had in mind, one fight at a time, one round at a time... I'm seeing punches before they're thrown, I'm making them miss, I'm scoring regular, and floating through the fights.
"I think I conceded four punches in four fights - a crazy stat. I was happy, boxing with a smile on my face. Billy Walsh knew, 'When Kenneth's happy, we're in business'."
Pictured is Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medallist Kenneth Egan who working with the Olympic Federation of Ireland and FBD to show support for Team Ireland athletes competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Egan fought China's Zhang Xiaoping in the final.
"I remember lying in my bed that night - I'd done my training session and had to make the weight for the next morning - Darren Sutherland put his head in the door wishing me the best of luck. He'd just been beaten by DeGale in the semi-final, and secured a bronze. He was delighted with himself.
"I knew I had the beating of Zhang. He was tall, big, rangy, but he was a big target. I had a great night's sleep, ultimately thinking the worst that could happen was I'd come home with a silver medal."
Egan told 'Sports Stories' on Virgin Media Two last week about an encounter while he was heading to the boxing arena.
"We were leaving the Olympic Village, me and Billy, and Ronaldinho was coming in," Egan said.
"This is around 7:30 in the morning. Let's say he had a lot of tipple on him, well oiled, him and one of his teammates. I goes to Billy, 'Isn't it gas, we're going out to fight an Olympic final, and he's coming back [from a night out]."
24 August 2008; Xiaoping Zhang, in blue, China, celebrates his victory over Kenneth Egan, Ireland, in the light heavyweight final. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
Egan gave Zhang a wink during the weigh-in. He knew they were in for a rollercoaster ride. It would turn out to be bumpier than he expected. Zhang won amid controversy.
"I remember after the first round that I sat down on the stool," says Egan.
"In every fight up the final, I was ahead in every fight, every round I was ahead and scoring quite easily. I remember going back to the corner, sitting on the stool, and Billy said, 'You're two down'. I said, 'That's OK, that's fine'. It was the first time I'd been down in the Games.
"I had a good second round, a fantastic third round. I remember hitting Zhang a couple of great shots. The Chinese crowd erupted cheering. I was thinking, that doesn't make sense. This was in the back of my head while I was in a fight.
"I went back to the corner, and I was still behind. They kept me behind by one or two points right up till the last round. I'm a counterpuncher, and I like people to come towards me. The fact that I was chasing the fight, I had to go forward a little bit more.
"I watched the fight, and I think I won it by three points. I whinged over that for a long time, 'poor me, I should have had the gold', but I'm well over that now. I came back with the silver medal, and that's it.
"It got a lot of people involved in boxing. The club started to fill back up again. Myself, Darren Sutherland, God rest his soul, and Paddy Barnes, we got boxing back on the menu. Look where we are today. We had massive numbers in London, and Rio.
"There was good and bad with the medal, the media intrusion, the alcohol abuse. It's all life lessons that were thrown at me. I adapted, I moved on, and I took my hits. Now I'm a better person for it, and I'm in a great place. I'm quite content with my life where it is today."
FBD Insurance is a principal sponsor to Team Ireland since September 2018. It is this same spirit of support and protection that sees FBD as Ireland’s largest homegrown insurer support more than 500,000 policyholders for over 50 years.
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