Matt Maher: Commonwealth gold just the start of a Delicious Orie odyssey

After the drama, the noise and the outpouring of emotion triggered by victory, the Bilston super heavyweight wanted nothing more than to celebrate with family and friends who have helped him along the way.

But then came the standard call to provide a sample for the drug testers, a procedure which on this occasion took a little longer than usual.

“Unfortunately, I was very, very dehydrated,” says Orie. “In the end, I was there for about two-and-a-half hours.

“There were people waiting for me on the outside and I was so much looking forward to seeing them but quite rightly, you have to follow the procedure... and I just couldn’t go.

“I was drinking and drinking, closing my eyes and thinking about water. It got to the point where I was watching videos of waterfalls on my phone. It certainly caught up with me later. I was up every 20 minutes during the night!”

Orie is laughing as he recalls the amusing postscript to the biggest day of his career so far and the lesson is that away from the lights and the cameras, the life of an athlete isn’t all glamour.

That said, the 25-year-old has experienced no shortage of the latter since following up on the promise which helped make him a poster boy of Birmingham 2022 even before he’d thrown a punch.

The days since his victory in the gold medal bout over Sagar Ahlawat have been a heady, hectic mix of celebration, interviews and television appearances. He’s even made his debut on Question of Sport.

“I’m surviving on about four hours sleep a night,” he says. “I’m still buzzing. But I’m loving it.”

Yet noisy though life might be now, things are about to get a whole lot quieter. This weekend Orie will begin a short holiday and when he returns to the UK his first port of call will be the Sheffield Institute of Sport, his regular base while training with GB Boxing, where the hard work will start again.

Fantastic though Birmingham 2022 might have been, it was less the realisation of a dream then the first major career staging post for a fighter with aspirations much grander than the Commonwealth Games. Next on the list is next year’s world championships, with Paris 2024 a little further down the line.

“I really appreciate what I have now. I am living in the moment and enjoying it as much as I can,” says Orie.

“But in a way it will be good to get back working behind closed doors. That is where the development happens. There is no hype, no promotion. It is just you in the gym, working to improve, identifying your weaknesses.

“We’ll do it all again, go to another major tournament, win, celebrate and then go straight back to the drawing board. The aim is always to improve.”

There are few sports where the ratio between training and competition is stacked toward the former so much as boxing. That is even more the case in the amateur game, where a nine-minute bout can be the focus of several weeks toil in the gym. Life as a GB boxer, where the hours are long and the training schedule almost military in its precision, can be far from easy.

Yet Orie has never for a moment considered not staying the course, even though his inspiring story, now blessed with the first sprinkling of fame, makes him a prime target for promoters willing to fast-track him into the professional game.

Born in Moscow to a Nigerian father and Russian mother, Orie couldn’t speak a word of English when at the age of seven, his parents moved the family to the UK in search of a better life. An avid basketball fan as a youngster, he didn’t take up boxing until seven years ago, after watching Anthony Joshua win the first of his world titles.

Having faced a lengthy wait for the British passport which allowed him to represent England and GB, nothing will deter him from the patient path previously trodden by Joshua and Darlaston ace Ben Whittaker.

“I always remember why I started boxing,” explains Orie. “I set myself a goal to learn as much as I can, to maximise my longevity in the sport.

“In order to do that, I need to build a base. The amateur game is the best way to do that, in my opinion.

“I know I need the experience. I know I need to fight the best guys in the world. The best route is the Olympic route. Having that Olympic medal round my neck will really give me the foundation to take on the professional game.

“I don’t want to be a mediocre professional. I want to be the top guy. To achieve that, I need to make sure I play the game properly and don’t rush things.”

There are a couple of reasons to be confident in Orie not getting carried away with his recent success. The first is his parents, Justin and Natalie, simply won’t let him. When not in Sheffield, he still lives with them and his three younger siblings, a five-minute jog from Bilston town centre. Winning a gold medal won’t get him out of being sent to the shops when needed. “Whenever I go home, I get brought back down to earth pretty quickly!” he laughs. “If I do anything silly, my mom and dad are the first to tell me.”

The other reason is the lengths he goes to prepare for the challenges ahead. Orie, who has a first class degree in economics, is currently reading Ryan Holiday’s book Ego is the Enemy, which details the danger of believing your own hype.

“It’s teaching me how to manage ego and how ego has been the downfall of many successful people,” he explains.

“On the one hand it can help you reach high levels of success in life. But it can eventually break you down if you let it.

“That is something I definitely have in the back of my mind.

“The hype is good. But you can’t let it get to your head. It isn’t real. How you are inside, that’s what is real.”

If such words might make Orie appear a little cold and calculating, the tears he shed on his father’s shoulder after winning gold were a reminder of the warmth within.

Upon returning to training next month, Orie and his coaches will cast a critical eye on the gold medal bout. Yet the main takeaway for the 4,500 present inside Hall Four of the NEC and the millions who watched worldwide was that no matter your gameplan, in the heat of battle desire and talent are so often the difference.

On the brink after losing the first round, Orie needed to dig deep.

“The pressure was on and I felt it, sitting in that corner,” he says.

“But the moment the bell went for the second round and I heard the cheers from the people around me I just thought: ‘There is no way I am leaving here without the gold medal around my neck’.

“I have never experienced anything like it in my life. I know there will be nights like that in the future but to be in my home town, with everyone cheering my name, was very special and I will never forget it.

“When my arm was raised, I broke down. It was a crash of emotions all at once.”

Winning gold was special but already, Orie is looking toward the next chapter.

“I had two aims going into the Commonwealth Games,” he says. “The first thing was to win gold.

“The second was to inspire people to get into whatever they want to do.

“My story is proof you don’t have to be an early starter.

“In my view, England is the best country in the world when it comes to supporting their people. It is clear when you look at the sporting side, the funding we put into athletes.

“This is just the beginning. I haven’t completed 10 per cent of what I will be able to achieve.

“I’m only just getting started.”