‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ declare Jack Marley

Jack Marley is taking a leaf out of Édith Piaf’s songbook and going for a ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ approach to his Paris journey.

The 21-year-old Dubliner delivered when Team Ireland needed it most last night, securing the country’s first boxing win of the Games. 

The first Team Ireland heavyweight to qualify for a Games since Cathal O’Grady at Atlanta 1996, ended a run of defeats and moved to within one win of an Olympic medal when he defeated Poland’s Mateusz Bereznicki in the Last 16 on Sunday night.

Marley revealed he was keen to make a positive start and that he went into his Olympic debut with words of advice, that he will take with him throughout the tournament, ringing in his ear. 

“I got told ‘have no regrets!’ about two minutes before I stepped into the ring and I’ll always remember that,” Marley said.

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“It was my Olympic boxing debut, I knew I had to start as I meant to go on and that’s what I did.” 

The Monkstown boxer had defeated the Italian in a silver medal European U22 fight in 2022 so thought he knew what to expect. Although, unlike the last time they fought the 6’6 heavy looked to use his physical attributes to his advantage. 

“He was actually a different fighter than when I fought him last, he was much more on the back foot this time. Last time he was trying to meet me. He was using his distance this time so every step I took, he was taking two back so I had to adapt and that’s why I upped the pace, it worked well.” 

Marley will now fight for a medal on Thursday evening and has moved to take the pressure off by pointing out that every win en route to the podium carries the same weight.

“I was one fight away this morning because if I lost I wasn’t getting anywhere near that podium. Each fight’s the same, it’s the same as an Olympic qualifier. If I lose I’m out.”