BRITISH boxing coach Ian Irwin, of Windermere, is soaking up the atmosphere of his third Olympic Games and hoping that the second contender of his tiny team of two fighters will take his first steps on the medal trail on Saturday.

Ian, of Oakthwaite Road, Windermere, has been full-time national coach for the past 11 years, but changes in qualifying rules for Olympic boxing have propelled him into the unusual position of being in Sydney as both coach and team manager.

At Barcelona and Atlanta, Great Britain put a full squad of fighters in the ring, but the break-up of the Soviet Union produced so many more countries hoping to compete that boxing introduced a regional qualifying system.

That eliminator left Britain with just two medal hopefuls and a British Olympic Association ruling that no sport should take more support staff than competitors meant that the highly-experienced Ian has been propelled into the dual role of team manager and coach in Australia.

Ian and his boxers flew out to Brisbane at the end of August for three weeks training at Nerang Police Boys Club, then moved to the Olympic Village, in Sydney, for the opening ceremony.