Kellie Harrington: 'It’s not about what I achieved but a nation shedding tears of happiness'

Harrington says she is still taking things day-by-day when it comes to future boxing plans

Tue, 17 Aug, 2021 - 13:06

Ronan Mullen

Kellie Harrington says she is still taking things day-by-day when it comes to future boxing plans.

The newly crowned Olympic champion only returned home to a rapturous reception last week following her gold medal tilt in Tokyo, but chatter around prospective next moves have begun in earnest.

With Paris 2024 already edging onto the horizon, as well as the potential lure of a switch to the paid ranks, Harrington is currently content with just getting back to basics.

“I’m really looking forward to going back to my own club, in St Mary’s in Tallaght, with Noel [Burke, coach]. I’m looking forward to doing pads and working on things.

“I feel I’m still the same boxer, but I’ve just gotten a bit better in what I do, a little bit more polished. I don’t want to be saying: ‘there’s loads of room for improvement, I’m only getting better’. I don’t want to be saying all that, but I do feel like I can get one percent better than I am, and one percent is a massive difference in the fight game.

“I’m looking forward to doing that, working on that kind of stuff before I get back to the High Performance, if that’s what I’m going to do, I still don’t know what’s happening. We’ll take it day by day, it’s only a week or so since the final and it’s still a little bit of ‘I don’t know what’s happened!’"

Of the memorable scenes which greeted her arrival home to Dublin 1, the 31-year-old has been similarly keen to remain in the moment, sourcing as much pride in her impact beyond the ropes as between them.

“I’d never experienced anything like that in my life. From the time we turned on to Ballybough, it was just amazing to see people shouting congratulations, shouting your name, shouting Emmet’s [Brennan, fellow Olympian] name. All genuinely happy.

“To see kids chasing the bus on their bicycles, waving and throwing teddy bears up. It was just amazing. And then you hit Portland Row, coming down by the sunset, all your neighbours down on the road shoulder to shoulder. Shedding tears of joy, just singing and dancing. It was just magic, a very, very special moment. Something that will stick with me for the rest of my life, and something that kids who were there will remember for the rest of their lives also.

“It’s not so much what I have achieved in the ring, but more what I’ve achieved outside the ring that I’ve been reflecting on, if that makes any sense at all. I’ve just been thinking about how much I’ve brought a nation to a standstill, a nation shedding tears of happiness. Allowing them to feel a bit normal in the last two weeks, obviously not forgetting about Covid, but having that bit of normality in their life. That all means a lot to me."

As much as Harrington is allowing herself to acknowledge the post-Tokyo glow, she has yet to feel the need to rewind the tape on any of her crowning moments from that historic Olympic run.

“I haven’t watched any of them. I’ll probably watch [the fights] when I’m getting ready for another tournament or something. Or I’m getting ready to fight someone and I think they’re a bit similar to one of the girls I fought [in Japan]. That’s probably when I’ll watch. But I wouldn’t be mad keen to watch any of them back. I never really do, to be honest with you.

“I suppose I’ve always had the mentality of: ‘it’s just a fight’. And I don’t want to downplay [becoming Olympic champion], I know I should be really enjoying the glory and stuff like that. But I don’t want to lose myself in it either. I need to find a good balance, you know what I mean? In between that.

"But when the opportunity does come around to get back in the ring, it won’t be hard because that is what I enjoy. The build-up to getting in there, the love-hate relationship with boxing that I have before I step in the ring. The moment of: ‘what am I doing here?! This is my last fight! I’m never coming back again, I’m telling you! This is it, I’m done after this!’ I enjoy all that, it’s what keeps me going.

"For now, it’s just good to be home. I’ve been away for six weeks, so it’s just nice to be able to do normal things and not worry about having to get up and go training for a while."

- Kellie Harrington was speaking in her position as an FBD Insurance Ambassador.