By Jonny Stapleton

IRISH Olympic hopeful John Joe Nevin plans to fulfil a prediction a made by Darren Sutherland and claim a medal in London 2012.

Beijing bronze medallist, Sutherland, who tragically passed away in 2009, comforted his Olympic room mate after he failed to medal in the last Games by telling him he would reach the podium in London.

The two time World bronze medallist, who will room with another Darren, Darren O’Neil in London, admits Sutherland and his kind words are still in his thoughts.
“I think about Darren a lot. He was my room mate and what happened was very sad. He said to me after the last Olympics ‘your Olympics is 2012 and you’ll do it, trust me’. Hopefully he is looking down on me and I can achieve what he said,” the World Series of Boxing star said.

Nevin, who landed in London from a training camp in Assisi yesterday, is happy he has an Olympic’s already under his belt, but doesn’t feel it would prove an massive advantage.

“You know what to expect having been there before. You know about the hype around the village with all these superstars and this time I will just get my head down and focus on doing my job. But it is the same as any ring. It will have four corners and ropes. The thing is to just get in and do what you do in every other ring.”

Praying for Olympic Success