Steven Donnelly ‘proud’ after Olympic elimination

Steven Donnelly exited the Rio Olympics today with his head held high after giving World champion Mohammed Rabii an almighty tough fight.

A split decision loss in a very close fight, the Moroccan was given the decision, Donnelly was not complaining about the verdict and instead focused on his brilliant performance in these Games after a life-changing last 10 months

Speaking to RTÉ immediately afterwards, a content and fulfilled Donnelly noted that he had come “so close but yet so far.”

“It was a great effort by me, he’s World champion I knew that coming in, but I actually believed in myself coming in here and you could see that in my performance.”

“I’m proud of my efforts here. He’s World number one, World champion, and look what happened there, I could have came away with the decision.”

“I’m disappointed not to get a medal and bring it home to everyone, I worked hard my whole career, but I’m happy and I’m proud of myself.”