Dreaming bigger than the rest of us

He has reached the midway point of a long journey

He has reached the midway point of a long journey. Francis Barrett's life has begun to unfold once again into a second public act. In the gym at the National Stadium in Dublin he works out with coach Nicholas Cruz Hernandez and the proof of his rebirth is all around. Photographers train their cameras on the boxer. A publicist hands out press releases. Interviews are stacked like aeroplanes during a busy day over Heathrow.

The last time the air of celebrity warmed Barrett's ears was when he carried the tricolour at the Atlanta Olympics. The first member of the Travelling community to do so, the only Irish Traveller to ever attend a Games. Way back then in the summer of 1996, it didn't really seem to matter how he did in the ring. Ireland briefly celebrated a 19-year-old youth stepping from the margins. In an odd way it seemed, to the settled community, quite enough. But his dream was not ours. His dream was much bigger than that.

Francis Barrett is back in town to talk about the next phase of his career and the documentary Southpaw, which is premiered tonight in Dublin and on general release on Friday. Not only has Southpaw drawn interest from Ireland it is the only Irish film to have been accepted by Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival. It charts Barrett's real life, not just his brief turn on the Olympic stage.

On Friday's Late Late Show Gay Byrne will jump on board and tease out of him the story behind the knife scars which snake down the back of his cropped head and neck. How Barrett refused to take part in bare knuckle fighting because of the Olympics in Sydney; the severed nerve in his left hand and the stab wounds his father received following an attack in Galway will be probed. We'll get comforting glimpses of the stereotype. A lightening profile of a world apart, of casual assault and extreme violence. Our privileged sense of place and our prejudices will be reaffirmed by a Traveller's brawl. But through it all we will see a young man whose vision is broader than most. Being a Traveller is the reason why Barrett's ambitions run so high.

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"I've always wanted to get to an Olympic Games. Now that I've got there in Atlanta I want to achieve my goal in Sydney. I want to win my medal. That's what I've always wanted. I think I can. I'll just be gone 23 after the next Olympics and I'll do it for Ireland. Not just for Travellers. Don't forget I'm an Irishman as well. It's not only Travellers I'm representing. I'm representing my country.

"I didn't want to get involved in any street fighting with these lads in Galway. They said to me `street fighting, street fighting. I said: `No lads.' Then all of a sudden they just started to attack me. They stabbed me here on the back of the head, here on the neck and cut a nerve in my thumb. They stabbed my father twice in the chest and three times in the arm," he says

"I'm leaving the law deal with it. I don't really want to talk more about it. It's not my game street fighting. The law told them that if they were caught anywhere around me at all they would be locked up. I hope it doesn't happen again. All the other Travellers respect me for what I've been able to achieve."

After the Atlanta breeze cooled Barrett left the Spartan training camp in Galway, a container with no electricity or running water, travelled to London and married Kathleen McDonagh. They now have two children. The move was the first break Barrett had with his trainer and mentor Chick Gillen and was forced in part by his family's inability to find a permanent halting site in Galway.

He now lives with his family in Yeats Close Halting Site in London and has been lucky to fall into working for a construction company run by Galway man and former minor hurler, Denis Curran.

"I didn't feel too bad after the Olympics had blown over. You need a break for a while. Sometimes you need a change and you need to be left alone and keep your mind to yourself. You know publicity would be off you for a while and all of a sudden it hits you again.

"But Denis has been fierce good to me. He's given me the next couple of weeks off and he's paying me my wages while I'm here. I couldn't have asked for more from him. I've time off now to try and do well in the National Seniors in February. That would be my goal for the moment. After that it's qualifiers for the Olympics next year."

Barrett has now moved back down to light-welterweight, a division in which he is more comfortable. His plan after this weekend's media hurricane is to focus in on the boxing, to qualify for Sydney and then break another mould by travelling to Cuba to train with the best amateur boxers in the world. They are still hopes and who knows what the documentary will bring. Robert Redford and the Sundance Kid, The Late Late Show, Olympic medals. Barrett has been here before and his eyes are open.