It's one thing to qualify for the Olympics but what about medalling at two separate games.
The first Irish boxer to do so was Belfast's Paddy Barnes, who claimed back-to-back bronze medals at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, going on to carry the Irish flag at the opening ceremony in Rio 2016.
Barnes also claimed a gold medal at the 2010 European Championships and silver in 2013 along with Commonwealth gold in 2010 and 2014.
But it was not always smooth sailing for the Co Antrim boxer, who struggled in the early stages of his amateur career.
"People make a big thing about it and I see why," Barnes tells Adrian Eames on Chapters of Magnificence, a new RTÉ Radio 1 series profiling 11 of Ireland's living Olympic medallists.
"I lost my first 12 fights and people say would you not retire? To be honest, most of them were pretty close and could have went either way and some of them I probably should have won."
Despite the early setbacks, Barnes remained positive and continued his push for success.
The 37-year-old says: "It shows that you will have many setbacks in life, whether it be in sport or business but if it's for you it will come, and it was obviously for me.
"After losing so much, then when I won, I became addicted to that feeling."
Off the back of defeat at the European Union Amateur Championships final in June 2008, Barnes was eager to make amends in Beijing just two months later.
With a bronze medal on the line, the 21-year-old light-flyweight was level with his Polish opponent after the first round of the quarter finals but pulled clear in the remaining three rounds to earn an 11-5 victory.
He says: "I never think of it, it’s crazy! I remember watching a video quite recently of me beating Łukasz Maszczyk from Poland for the medal, it was just amazing. It was beyond my wildest dreams medalling at the Olympic Games. Until you’re there, you don’t realise how big it is."
That was Barnes' first medal and Ireland's first in Beijing.
But there was more than just a medal on Barnes' mind as he looked for revenge against Maszczyk.
"I fought that guy a year previous, and he beat me by 20 points. So just beating him for me was amazing, but the medal was the icing on the cake."
With a track record of great boxers being produced in Belfast, Barnes emphasised how growing up in the city made him stronger.
"Belfast is just a fighting city. You had to fight for everything."
He says: "Whether it be human rights or civil rights, the fighting is just in us, and I think that’s been shown on the international sporting stage."
"A rich history of Commonwealth Games champions, European champions, professional world champions and Olympic medallists. We have not had an Olympic champion yet, but there is plenty of time for those to come."
"Maybe I am lucky to have had had a such a figure in boxing as Gerry Storey when I was a kid. I might have had someone else, who didn't take as great an interest in my career."
Barnes admitted that unlike his team Ireland counterparts, he did not have a hero to aspire to but instead motivated himself.
"I had no heroes whatsoever. I was just boxing by myself."
He adds: "I used to love my father showing me videos of Marco Antonio Barrera against Erik Morales. They were the only fights I would have watched and those guys in particular. If you want to say heroes, then maybe it was them because I used to love their Mexican style of how they fought."
Without a hero in the ring to look up to, Barnes turned to his coach Gerry Storey who became a role model from the moment he joined the Holy Family Boxing Club in Belfast.
"Gerry moulded me and taught me how to punch properly and different tricks with your feet and just kept me on the right path."
He says: "He was like a father figure, like he is to most people.
"Maybe I am lucky to have had had a such a figure in boxing as Gerry Storey when I was a kid. I might have had someone else, who didn’t take as great an interest in my career and things could have been very different."
After his semi-final defeat in Beijing, Barnes was even more determined to win silver or gold at the London 2012 Games.
Having secured bronze with a win over India’s Devendro Singh in the quarter finals, Barnes faced a familiar foe in Zou Shiming once again and produced an outstanding performance against his Chinese opponent.
The match finished 15 points apiece, but Zou came out victorious on countback.
He says: "At the time I thought it was a very close fight. If it’s countback then I really should get the decision. I threw 3:1 more punches than him, so maybe I should have won it on a countback.
"I felt myself in the fight that I didn’t win because it was very close. But it is what it is, I lost to the best, I gave it all and I couldn’t have given anymore."
Barnes' dreams of Olympic gold were ended on 8 August 2016 with a split decision defeat to Spain's Samuel Carmona in Rio.
The Belfast man put the result of the fight down to his weight during the competition.
"It was terrible from the get-go, even for myself on a personal level.
He recalls: "I was the favourite going into the games for a gold medal after winning the Word Series boxing.
"I had not made 49 kilos in way over a year. My problem was that I could never plan to weigh in at 8 in the morning and fight at 11.30 in the morning.
"I had never fought so close to a weigh-in in my life. It told in the fight because after three seconds I had nothing left. "
Retiring in November 2019 after a rollercoaster of a career, Barnes remains in the history books as the first Irish boxer to win medals at two consecutive Olympic Games.
"It is hard enough qualifying for an Olympic Games, but it’s being able to medal at consecutive ones.
He says: "You know the only sports people that have done it are the rowers and they are world class, top of their games.
"Hopefully they can surpass me. I think it’s great that I have created history, but I am an Irish man, I support all Irish sports people."
In the lead-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and marking 100 years of Ireland competing as an independent nation, RTÉ Radio 1 is broadcasting 'Chapters of Magnificence' a series of 11 radio programmes, each focusing on a living Irish medallist.
Listen to the Paddy Barnes episode on RTÉ Radio 1 on Sunday 9 June from 7.30-8pm and listen back to all the episodes here after broadcast.
