An Cosantóir June 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie
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BY COMDT ADRIAN WATSON
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY COMDT ADRIAN WATSON
I
remember sitting at the back of the bus with 7th Battal-
ions Pte Danny O'Brien a few seats ahead of me, I could
see him watching something on his phone but I just
could not make out what it was. The bus was not that full,
as we left the olympic village, as it was a world champion-
ship semi-final and only the most 'Elite of the Elite' were
still standing. It is not everyday your fighting in a world mil-
itary games semi final representing your country. I turned
around to Offaly's
Sgt John Molloy,
Danny's long
term mentor and
asked him what
Danny was
watching on
the phone…….
"He is big
into Evander
Holyfield, likes to get into the mode for physical destruction
through him…." John said.
The setting was Wuhan in the Hubei Province of China.
The opening ceremony of the military olympics had been
extravagant to say the least and fittingly Jackie Chan, one of
China's greatest exports opened the proceedings amid a city
who really embraced the world military games. The stadium
had a 100,000 capacity and it was no surprise to learn that
the Chinese had created the biggest olympics spectacle ever
from a military perspective with over 10,000 entries, nearly
30 percent higher than the previous ones in South Korea
in 2017. They had their own championship TV channel so
they could live-feed the public's appetite to showcase their
military hero's.
The boxing not surprisingly was the most sought
after spectator competition of the games. In
fairness to the fans they soon came to realise
that if you wanted to see "real Combat" fought
An Cosantóir June 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie
32 |
Pte O'Brien beats Brazilian opponent
