A TALENTED 15-year-old Mullingar girl remains shocked and traumatised following an alleged assault by a Russian coach, after she won a gold medal and Best Boxer award at a prestigious tournament in Stralsund, Germany, last Saturday.
Mary Kate Nevin suffered a black eye and a badly swollen jaw in the alleged assault, now under investigation by the German police. Speaking to Topic in her home in O’Growney Drive, Mullingar on Tuesday, Mary Kate, who was representing Ireland, said she is devastated at what happened in the early hours of the morning in the team hotel.
“I’ll have good memories, but I’ll have bad memories as well; we were having a great time until it happened,” she told Topic.
Mary Kate left Ireland last Tuesday to fight in the Queens Cup event, in Stralsund, Germany, and she competed over three days, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The talented boxer, who is a member of the Mullingar Elite Boxing Club, won a Gold Medal at the event and was named Boxer of the Tournament.
She defeated an opponent from Denmark on Thursday, before overcoming a Russian boxer in Friday’s semi-final. That secured her a place in the final against a Czech Republic opponent and Mary Kate produced a great performance to win the Gold Medal.
But what was one of the most memorable days in the young boxer’s life soon turned sour when she was the victim of an alleged assault in the team hotel.
“All the girls were up as it was our last night. We had pizza to celebrate. It was about 12 midnight when we were in the hotel. I went down to get a bottle of coke and this guy said that we were making noise in the corridor. I said, ‘we are not making noise; we are going to sleep in a few minutes.’
“He closed in the door and we were talking. One of the girls said something funny – not about him – and we laughed. He turned around and came towards me and hit me. I didn’t see the box coming, but when he hit me, one of my cousins picked me up; I couldn’t remember anything after that. I could only see all black dots,” she recalled.
The incident left Mary Kate badly shaken. “I was terrified. There were two girls with me, both Irish boxers. One of the girls phoned down to alert the Irish coaches and they came up. They were very concerned at what happened,” she said.
The incident took place on the hotel corridor, near Mary Kate’s room in the early hours of the morning and they were allegedly chased down the hotel corridor by the angry Russian coach.
“He shouted at us to come back, but we didn’t go back. He shouted, ‘come back, come back.’ He ran after us with my bottle of coke in his hand; he was in an angry mood, he wasn’t sorry for what he did,” said Mary Kate.
Mary Kate’s mother, Mary said she was shocked when she learned of the incident.
“I learned in the early hours of Sunday morning; Shirley (Mary Kate’s sister) found out about it. The girl who picked Mary Kate up on the corridor told Shirley,” she recalled.
“Everything came in to my mind that night. It was horrible. I’m back here and I could do nothing; I was completely helpless. It was awful; I said, ‘when I get her home I’m not letting her away again to another boxing tournament’. Her father said the same; he got one fright and that’s enough. He has told her coach already that he’s afraid to let her off again. She’s thinking about leaving boxing anyway,” said Mary.
Mary Kate’s coach in the Elite Boxing Club, Mullingar, is very upset at what happened, as are the Irish team officials.
“I don’t know whether to continue after this; it’s a great honour to be picked to box for Ireland,” said Mary Kate.
Her mother, Mary said: “I’m afraid to let her off like that again; I don’t think I would.
“She’s picked now to go to Sweden to box in February, but we are afraid. Her father said, ‘No way’. He doesn’t want to go down that road again in case this could happen again. And I’d be terrified after what has happened already.”
“Imagine letting her out in February again? I wouldn’t have a minute’s peace; I wouldn’t sleep.”
Mary Kate, has only been boxing three years. Her father, Paddy said the Russian coach involved in the alleged incident should be banned for life.
Mary Kate is a first cousin to John Joe Nevin, who won an Olympic Silver Medal for Ireland.
“I love boxing,” she said.
Her mother explained: “If she missed a night at training she’d be very upset. I often said to her, ‘leave it off tonight’. I wouldn’t want the bother of driving her out to the club, but she’d walk there if she had to.”
Mary Kate trains five times a week in the Mullingar Elite Boxing Club and also works with the Irish team in Dublin. The high performance coaches were also shocked at what took place, according to Mary.
“They are very upset and concerned. They feel it’s their responsibility because they brought her over to Germany. They ended up sitting up with her the whole night, watching her. They brought her to hospital over there,” she said.
The whole episode had left 15-year-old Mary Kate badly traumatised.
“I couldn’t sleep or anything. I did fall asleep on the bus on the way back to the airport, but I kept wakening up and jumping,” she said.
Her mother admitted being shocked when she learned what took place.
“When I saw the photo I was terrified. I felt anything could have happened to my daughter: a knife could have been put through her; she could have been raped; she could have been thrown there; she could be kidnapped, brought off… All these things were hitting me,” she told Topic.
“I was very angry and her father is very, very upset. We were thinking of all the little things; worse could have happened. We feel she she is lucky to get away now and there’s no point continuing,” she added.
Mary admitted feeling really upset when she saw her daughter, but she was relieved to have her back home.
“Her eye was black and her jaw was all swollen. A fella six foot tall hit her. She was lovely going, all excited, but she came back here devastated,” said Mary.
“Even the group of girls that went out, 15 girls, will be afraid again after this,” she added.
GREAT TALENT
The young boxer, who has won 23 Irish titles, was team captain and is seen as a future Olympic prospect, if she continues to make such progress, and possibly be the next Katie Taylor of Irish boxing.
According to the Irish team manager, Ms. Bernie Harold, who spoke to the media afterwards, the girls had all gone to bed, but Mary Kate and the other girl went to another room to get a drink of Coke.
Ms. Harold said the man said he was sorry afterwards and he again apologised, after being remonstrated with. The young Mullingar boxer was brought to a local hospital and examined by medical staff.
All the Irish team members were shocked. The hospital were happy to let the team manager bring her back to the hotel, Ms. Harold stated, and it was a shame something like this happened. They were pursuing the matter with the police in Germany and she understood a file would go to the equivalent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The Irish Junior girls’ team had remarkable success in the German tournament, with all fifteen team members winning a medal, seven of them winning gold, four silver and four bronze medals. Other Irish youth boxers won medals also in the tournament, which ran from Tuesday to Saturday last. A total of seventeen countries had teams in Queens Cup events.
