Dancing a jig in the ring with her coach Zaur Antia, with Irish fans waving flags all around Roland Garros, there was immense pride in Paris for boxer Kellie Harrington.
China’s Wenlu Yang came into Tuesday night’s Olympic women’s 60kg final as the top seed and played her part in a closely fought bout, but it was reigning champion Harrington who retained her title on a split decision.
The 34-year-old, who married her wife, Mandy, a year after her 2021 Tokyo triumph, is the first Irish female athlete to win gold medals at consecutive Olympics.
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Her success also secured two records for Team Ireland at a single Games — four gold medals, and a total medal haul of seven.
Harrington had already said before Paris that she was looking forward to a simpler life with Mandy and her family, after hanging up her gloves.
She told RSVP Live: “When I’m finished, we can do normal things and I don’t have to be worrying about weight and how much energy I’m wasting walking or going out to a concert or anything. It’s just those normal little things that people take for granted.”
She has certainly earned that freedom with her hard work in Paris. There were 5-0 wins over Italy’s Alessia Mesiano and Colombia’s Angie Vald before the semi threw up a repeat of the Tokyo final, against Beatriz Ferreira of Brazil. Harrington beat her 4-1 in an impressive performance.
Inside Court Philippe-Chatrier, which has witnessed so many great French Open duels down the year, Harrington was roared on by a passionate Irish crowd. The judges gave her both the first and second rounds 4-1 on their scorecards, putting pressure on her opponent.
Yang did take the third round 4-1 but it was too little, too late.
Harrington told RTE afterwards: “It just gives hope to all these young kids, all these teenagers, it gives hope to them. It gives hope to the people of Ireland. But this one’s for me.”
Her parents were watching the action unfold on TV back home in Dublin. Mandy was at Roland Garros but wasn’t in the crowd — she has said previously that she doesn’t enjoy watching her wife fight. They hugged and kissed after the medal ceremony.
The couple have been in a relationship for 15 years, having met through boxing. They bought their first house together just days after their wedding and they have been sharing pictures on social media of the renovation work.
In Ireland, Harrington is greatly loved but she is not an attention seeker. “I tried not to do anything to put me back out there because I don’t really like being in the media,” she has admitted. “It’s something that I wouldn’t be in favour of doing for a living.”
A quieter life beckons, but she will always be an Irish sporting legend.
