Delicious Orie ready to seize the moment at Paris 2024

Orie’s ambitions do not end in France. Whatever happens tonight or over the next fortnight, the 27-year-old’s intention is to turn professional after the Games. Becoming world heavyweight champion remains the ultimate aim.

But the Olympics are a huge part of a dream born less than a decade ago, when a then 18-year-old Orie watched Anthony Joshua claim his first world crown and a few days later walked into Wolverhampton Amateur Boxing Club asking how he followed that path.

Born in Moscow to a Nigerian father and Russian mother, his biggest fight in those early years during a rapid rise took place outside the ring, a battle against bureaucracy and paperwork as he sought to secure the British passport which would allow him to take the first step on the journey.

“I have to be honest with you, there were times when I did think this wouldn’t happen,” he says.

“There have been times when it was: “what do we now?’ There were loads of roadblocks and it was never in my control.

“It was like: ‘You don’t have a passport, you can’t represent Great Britain’. So what now?

“No matter how much hard work I put in it did not matter. You think: ‘Do I turn professional, or do I find something else to do?’

“It was making sure I was disciplined, persistent and positive as well. I also had the right people around me, as well as Team GB who looked after me when it came to the passport situation.

“That got me here. This is my chance to say thank you for all the hard work you have put into me.”

Orie has already repaid the faith of GB Boxing by winning Commonwealth gold on home turf in Birmingham two years ago, when 4,000 fans nearly took the roof off the NEC as he came from behind to beat India’s Sagar Ahlawat.

Then there was that fantastic victory at last summer’s European Games, which stamped his ticket to Paris at the first time of asking.

In the build-up to the Olympics, it has been no surprise to see the attention Orie has garnered and he is rivalling Adam Peaty for the most interviewed GB athlete. Everyone wants to speak to him, even the Prime Minister.

His background is remarkable, dad Justin and mom Natalie moving their young family to the UK when Orie was aged seven to escape racism in Russia. They settled in Bilston when he was 11 and for Orie that is home and the place he is proud to represent.

There is more to his story than that though. In every interview, Orie references the hard-work ethic instilled by his parents. An avid academic, he holds a first-class degree in business and economics from Aston University and you suspect he would have excelled in whatever career he chose.

Deciding to pursue boxing despite his parents urging otherwise. Has that viewpoint changed?

“I would say so!” laughs Orie. “They will be there in Paris, 100 per cent.”

Orie is easy in the limelight but also aware being popular with the media means nothing once you step through the ropes.

“It is easy to get carried away and I do catch myself sometimes thinking: ‘Wow, the Olympics. This is something I have dreamed about since I started boxing’,” he says.

“But then I find myself bringing myself back down and saying it is just another fight and I have had many of them.

“I’ve done about 70 of them so it is going in there, level-headed and execute exactly what you have been told to execute and you will be fine.

“These are the conversations I am having with myself, reigning myself in when I get carried away winning that gold medal.”

There is pressure to deliver and he knows it. Every time GB has sent a super heavyweight to the Olympics, they have returned with a medal.

The draw might have been kinder. Chaloyan is a former world silver medallist, though Orie did beat the Armenian on route to winning the European Games. A repeat tonight would likely set up a quarter-final meeting with Kazakhstan’s Kamshybek Kunkabayev, bronze medallist in Tokyo three summers ago. BBC pundit Steve Bunce last week described Orie’s path to gold as the hardest set of fights he had known.

Yet Orie has faith in the system which has put his predecessors on the podium. There is belief too, at his proven ability to produce on the big stage.

“I feel like every big stage, even from a national point of view, the ABAs, I have always brought out my best,” he says.

“I feel like I know I will do exactly the same in the Olympics. I have so much confidence in myself through the track record.

“I was able to prove to myself over and over again that I can perform and can achieve. So that is what I will be doing in the next week or so.

“I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t feel any pressure. I am a human being.

“But with the Europeans and Commonwealths, I felt mega pressure then. The Commonwealth Games being in my home town so there was a bit of expectation as well for me.

“There was a lot of pressure. But looking at my track record, I feel I have coped pretty well with it. Pressure is a privilege and something I will accept with both hands. I am going to compete and go out there and do it.”