EXCLUSIVE
Anthony Ogogo has mixed emotions about his Olympic experience.
The former professional boxer, who was forced to retire due to a catastrophic eye injury in 2019, first made a name for himself at the London Olympics in 2012.
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Ogogo overcome several major injuries and a heart-wrenching family issue to claim a bronze medal against the odds.
With Paris 2024 starting - live on talkSPORT - the 35-year-old recently looked back at his unique Olympic run, which saw him visit his mother in the hospital while everyone else was enjoying themselves.
“The Olympics games for me was everything I’d dreamt of and also the worst time of my life,” Ogogo told talkSPORT.com in February.
“It’s quite well-documented, my mother suffered a brain aneurysm 12 weeks before the Olympic games.
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“A lot of lads were mingling with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Ryan Giggs, and all the famous stars in the Olympic Village.
“I was sneaking out, driving to the hospital, and flirting with the nurses to let me in the hospital to stroke my mum’s hand and comb her hair because I didn’t think I was ever going to see her again.
“I’m really proud to say my mum survived and she’s still alive today, which is a miracle because the bleed she had on her brain was a really, really, really bad one.”
Ogogo thought he was good enough to win gold and spent several years being disappointed that he came away with a bronze medal.
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Over time he’s become proud of the fact he was able to triumph despite all the adversity he faced.
Ogogo added: “That period taught me I can do anything because I was a shell of the man I am."
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“I was running on fumes. I was physically and emotionally drained. I had a broken rib, dislocated shoulder and tears in both my Achilles tendons. And I thought my mum was going to die.
“Robert McCracken said my medal was the hardest fought medal he’s ever seen won by a British athlete. Not just in boxing, all the sports because of what I went through.
“I had this bitterness because I didn’t get the gold like Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell, and Nicola Adams did.
"I was every bit as good as them, and my story would’ve been an even more triumphant story than theirs.
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“It took me eight years to actually be proud of my achievement and look at it with context.”
Ogogo, who has become a successful professional wrestler since ending his boxing career, has one piece of advice for Team GB athletes heading to France this summer.
“Enjoy it,” he said. "The Olympic Village is the maddest place in the world."
"Everyone is a freak, and I say that in the nicest possible way. You’ve got 7ft basketball players, you’ve got tiny little, short people and powerlifters who are as wide as they are tall.
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“It’s just an odd place to be. In the Village, everything is free. It’s a really weird world and is kind of how life should be.
“I didn’t enjoy it as much because of my mum. I would just say enjoy it.”
talkSPORT will be be bringing you live coverage of the Paris Olympics this summer. We will showcase more than 250 hours of live coverage across our network, with Sir Steve Redgrave and Dame Kelly Holmes among our legendary line-up of pundits. Listen to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, via the app, or through your smart speaker.