Amy Broadhurst's switch to Team GB was 'painful' but IABA was 'professional'

"We just tried to be professional about it. Everything that was requested of us, we did.

Sat, 29 Jun, 2024 - 06:51

PJ Browne

IABA high performance director Tricia Heberle said Amy Broadhurst switching her allegiance from Ireland to Great Britain was "painful" but the organisation made every effort to be as "professional" as possible in facilitating the move.

After Gráinne Walsh was selected to box for Ireland in the 66kg category at the final Olympic qualifier in Bangkok, Broadhurst - the 2022 light welterweight world champion from Dundalk who qualifies to compete for Great Britain through her father - committed to Team GB. She was subsequently selected for the qualifier in Bangkok but the 27-year-old failed to punch her Paris ticket after losing at the quarter-final stage.

Walsh - who lost out controversially at March's Olympic qualifier in Italy - won four fights in Bangkok to seal her spot at the Games.

"With Amy, we had three high quality boxers at that weight," said Heberle.

"In fact, we had four, we had Tina Desmond the year before. We had Gráinne, who we knew had been impacted by injuries, and Gráinne was very close to getting selected for the European Games last year.

"We had Amy who had a breakout 2022 and people couldn't get anywhere near her. She did well in Strandja in early 2023. We had Lisa O'Rourke, who already won a world title at 70 and is part of the future.

Irish Athletic Boxing Association performance director Patricia Heberle Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

"It was always going to be difficult. Yeah, there was some impact when we announced the selections because if you are getting a lot of criticism from outside and social media is going mad, and a lot of it was very personal, you can't just ignore it - it's there.

"The choice was that we were absolutely confident that for that first event in Milan, that Gráinne was the number one and then when we came back from Milan, and we had to look at who were our number ones for Bangkok, again she had presented a compelling case.

"It's been well documented that the judging of that fight is very questionable. There was no hesitation that she was the number one and then that really created the whole roll on effect with Amy making her choices and decision.

"We just tried to be professional about it. Everything that was requested of us, we did. We worked with the Olympic Federation because it was always going to be about them and the BOA (British Olympic Association). We worked with GB Boxing and just tried to be professional and try to support the fact that she made a decision.

"Yeah, it was painful. Again, do you get distracted by that or do you actually focus on the athletes that you need to work with and were looking to qualify?"

A surprise for Heberle in her role has been the realisation that success quells the brouhaha.

"What is really beneficial and I couldn't have anticipated this, is that every time you get those little successes, you shut the noise down," she said.

"There was all the noise coming into Bangkok with the Amy Broadhurst thing. The Amy situation for her personally sorted itself out. The best way to quieten things is to do what we do and perform really well, to end up with another four qualifications, have the biggest (Irish Olympic boxing) team in modern times."