Postcard from Athens: Gods, Games, away win's the aim

You certainly feel safe in your bed when a former world boxing champion is looking down on you while you sleep.

James DeGale did not box at the Athens Games but somehow has ended up on the bedroom wall of the Civitel Olympic Hotel, just a stone's throw from the venue of the 2004 event.

Far from a memorable Olympic outing from an Irish perspective that particular year, as Andy Lee was the only boxer to qualify – another world champion in the making, however, went out in the round of 16 in Athens.

Ireland did take a gold medal home in the showjumping, yet, that was swiftly returned a year later after Cian O’Connor’s Waterford Crystal failed a horse doping test, while middle-distance runner Cathal Lombard missed out after testing positive for the illegal endurance-boosting hormone EPO before the Games.

As for DeGale, the Londoner would go on to secure the gold medal four years later at the Beijing Games, denying old foe and late friend Dubliner Darren Sutherland a place in the final.

The views from this Athenian hotel room take in the entire Olympic village, sitting pretty on the outskirts of this sprawling city, including the main stadium that was, up until recently, home to the Greece national football team.

Alas, Gus Poyet’s side have now decided to play their home games at the newly built AEK stadium, the OPAP Arena, which meant that the short stroll through the underground passageway to the Olympic Stadium was replaced by a late afternoon taxi ride across the busy city, where the driver seemed to know as much about how best to get there as his back-seat passengers.

Arriving just in time to listen to the always interesting Poyet, who spoke with pride about the job that was ongoing, rebuilding the one-time European champions