Katie Taylor and her father Peter Taylor on how they had to work around opposition to women's boxing by pretending she was a boy.bo
London 2012 was the first time women competed inside the boxing ring at the Olympic Games. Irish boxer Katie Taylor won the gold female lightweight medal. The 26-year-old from Bray, Co. Wicklow, had already won four world boxing titles in a row. As a child, she and her family had learned to work around the difficulties facing female boxers.
In this clip from 'Miriam Meets', Katie's father and trainer Peter Taylor tells Miriam O'Callaghan how they used to have to pretend Katie was a boy to get her into the competitions she needed to progress. He describes the opposition to women's boxing at the time, but that "Katie had every right to box". Katie Taylor says that it was the support of her family that kept her going and that if it wasn't for her father, "women's boxing wouldn't be around in Ireland".