Katie Taylor walked out to a worship song at Croke Park. 82,000 people heard it.
On 5 September, Katie Taylor walked out at Croke Park for the last time. Eighty-two thousand people were in the stadium, in her own city, for a fight she had already said would be her final one.
The song they played was "All Hail King Jesus", a Bethel worship track. Not a clip buried under a hype reel. The whole stadium got the chorus.
She was wearing a black Celtic robe worked in gold, and written down it, also in gold, Psalm 18.
She has explained that choice before. "This is a Psalm that I regularly read when I am away in competition," she said. It reminds her that "it's God who trains my mind for battle and He is my shield of victory."
"He teacheth my hands to war... Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up."
Then she boxed. Ten rounds against Flora Pili, a unanimous decision, 100–90, 100–90, 98–91. She kept her WBA, IBF and WBO super-lightweight belts and took the vacant WBC and IBO, which made her undisputed champion again. At 40 years and 65 days, she became the oldest fighter of any gender ever to do it. Then she retired.
If the name is new to you: Taylor won Olympic gold in London in 2012, the first women's lightweight champion in Olympic history, and she has been undisputed three times across two weight classes. Only two other boxers have ever managed that.
The order is the point
Athletes thank God afterwards all the time. It costs nothing by then. The result is in, the camera has already found you, and gratitude is the easiest thing in the world to feel when you have just won.
Taylor did it the other way round. The worship played on the way in, before the first bell, while she could still have lost in front of 82,000 people and most of Ireland. She said it while it was still a risk.
And she never preached
There was no sermon, no appeal, nothing asked of anyone in the stands. She let the song play, wore the Psalm, and got on with her job, which that night happened to be ten rounds of professional boxing.
That is a usable model. Most of us are never handed a microphone in front of a stadium, and most of us would not want one. What we get instead is the ordinary version of the same choice: what you let people see you carry into the room, before anyone knows how it turns out.
Taylor has said her faith is "a foundation of my life. It's the most essential part of my life." At Croke Park, she simply put it first in the running order.
Sources: ESPN, The Daily Declaration, Wikipedia
5Talents
Written by the 5Talents editorial desk.