New Delhi, July 30 2009: Late it might be, but four-time world champion M C Mary Kom says the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award has motivated her to aim for India's first boxing gold medal at the Olympics if women's boxing is included in the 2012 London Games.

"I can't describe in words how happy I am at finally getting this award which had been a long-cherished dream.

Yes, it has come a bit late but I am glad to have got it," Mary Kom, the first boxer to get the country's highest sporting honour, said in an interview.

"I have become a mother of two and as I juggle the twin jobs of caring for my family and boxing, this award has given me fresh motivation.

Meanwhile, the Indian Boxing Federation (IBF) president Abhay Singh Chautala called it a historic day for the sport in the country after four-time world boxing champion M C Marykom and Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh were declared recipients of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

Four-time world champion MC Mary Kom is presently dreaming of Olympics.

The Manipuri is pinning her hopes on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) including women's boxing at the 2012 London Games.

The IOC's executive board will take a decision on August 13.However, if women's boxing does not get IOC's nod for the Olympics, Mary Kom says she will hang up her gloves.

Mary Kom has not just been a boxer but a fighter all her life - in the ring and outside it too - which has earned her the tag of 'Magnificent Mary'.

Though she is home for a short reunion with her family to celebrate the second birthday of her twin sons on August 5, there is no vacation from boxing.

She has been busy training her 20 students at home.

She adds, "If all goes well, some of my students could be participating with me in the forthcoming Nationals".

Mary Kom will return to the boxing camp in Bhopal.

The champion boxer confesses that her training duration is not the same after her Cesarean as she suffers from back aches.

However, she insists that her punches still have the same power.

"I am confident of a gold in the Olympics if that happens.

I have done that in World Championship and the Olympics will be no different," she said.

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