Peter McGrail admits it’s going to take a long time to get over his shock first-round exit from the Olympics.
The Liverpool fighter was tipped for a featherweight medal but crashed out in the very first round, going down to Thailand’s Chatchai-decha Butdee 5-0 on points on day one.
McGrail was hoping to convert a Commonwealth gold into an Olympic medal and he booked his place in Japan more than a year before the Games began.
But he was out before most of his teammates had even started and says he’s still shocked by the result.
“One minute I’m thinking about turning over and it’s exciting,” said McGrail, whose heartbreak was broadcast live on Eurosport and Discovery+.
“Then I remember what happened and what it was like and you get a bit gutted and think to yourself, imagine if I’d done this, what if I’d boxed like this, what if I’d had just a tiny different mindframe walking in.
“If I’d boxed like I’d boxed against some kids in the 2019 Worlds [where he won bronze] it probably would be a different story. I don’t even usually box like that. It’s how you perform on the day.
“I was in the best shape of my life. I was fit and strong. I was positive. There were no doubts in my mind. I had in my head, ‘I need to go at him.’ Those were the tactics I had in my head.”
McGrail was trained at the famous Everton Red Triangle Boxing Club in Liverpool, first breaking through with bronze medals at the Youth Olympics and World Youth Championships back in 2014.
He did go to Rio in 2016, not as a competitor but to spar with others in the GB team. Since then he won gold at the European Championships in Kharkiv in 2017 before winning Commonwealth gold a year later.
His stock was sky-high before the Games but Olympic boxing is just three rounds and a slow start can be fatal.
McGrail knew he was behind when the bell rang after round one but there was little he could do in the end.
“That first round is vital in the amateurs. Two more rounds I might have got him out of there but it’s only a three-round fight," he added.
“I’m not taking nothing away from. I was trying to sort out in my head the things that went wrong because I proper believed in myself, I thought I was going to beat him.
“I thought I was going to be too sharp, too fresh and too clever. I knew it was going to be a tough fight. It wasn’t that I underestimated him, it was just that I was a bit too eager. Rushing a bit, forcing it a bit too much.
“Too eager to land my own punches instead of staying relaxed and using my own experience.”
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