'I can't afford to obsess anymore': Aidan Walsh takes the pressure off for surprise Olympics return

Walsh retired from boxing due to mental health issues and claims to this day spekaing out is still his greatest achievment

Aidan Walsh at the National Indoor Arena

When he got that unexpected call, Aidan Walsh was content in sporting retirement, happy with a new life beginning to form. The caller wanted to know if he still had that puncher’s chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

The light middleweight was “completely done” with the sport in which he won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Last month, a Facebook Memory popped up on his sister Michaela's feed, like him a boxing Olympian. As she qualified for the 2024 Olympics via last summer's European Games, Aidan was sitting in a caravan at Carnlough Bay.

“I was 14 months out of the ring,” explained Walsh.

“The most I’d done was walk the dog. I was getting out of breath walking up a hill!” His phone rang shortly before the deadline for entry to the Irish Elite Championships.

“I said, ‘If I put my mind to it I probably could (qualify)’. They said, ‘Well you’ve an hour to make your decision’. I said, ‘Jesus I don’t know about that’.

“I had to get a bit of advice off the people I’ve worked with, loved ones and the people who supported me because they knew, and I knew, there were a lot of consequences coming back to the sport.

“Like, do you go back, put the effort in and not qualify? Do you put the effort in, qualify and then all your demons come back again and you push yourself to that limit? So there was a lot to take into consideration. I had 45 minutes to do that. I said I’ll put my name in and go for it, and here we are.” 

Walsh, now a two-time Olympian, had stepped away from boxing after suffering from mental health troubles, ones which had affected him even before Tokyo.

“I had a breakdown,” he says.

“I went into the performance director, it was in the office, and I fell to the ground. I was just done, Michaela knew I was done. Actually, I wanted to step away before the Commonwealth Games, so originally in 2022 I had stepped away from the camp.

“I was so happy when I was away. That’s why coming back was a big decision. I was studying (for a Masters in Sports and Exercise Psychology). I started a new career for myself, I was looking for jobs. It was a big choice but it had to be made.

“Maybe I didn’t have many challenges when I stepped away. Life was too easy, you are better off with a wee bit of madness.

Walsh won Bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

“People I had beat at international level were going to competitions and winning medals. I was beating them handy enough going through the struggles I was having.” 

Walsh was controversially selected ahead of Dean Walsh, who had beaten him in the 2023 Elite Championships, for the first Olympic qualifier in Italy earlier this year. He suffered defeat in the second round but bounced back, sealing his ticket to Paris at the final qualifier in Bangkok in early June.

Since returning to the high performance unit, Walsh’s training has been adapted to ensure his mental well-being.

“I probably don’t train as hard as I should due to my own needs,” he said.

“I just can’t. There were times when I was the first one in the gym and the last one out for years. I can’t sustain that level of training. There are days I have to take off.

“People take pressure in a lot of different ways. Mine is stepping back, having a can of Coke. Thailand ran out of tins of Coke when I was over there!

“There’s a lot of things that I need to keep doing right and I know if I don’t, I’ll not be able to hold it (together).

“I’m an obsessive person. That was partly the reason for my breakdown, to be honest, trying to reach a certain goal. I know if I had that obsession, it’s very easy to go back into that. I just can’t do it because I know the consequences. It’s not good. I just said to myself that no amount of sporting success is worth it.” 

Walsh’s aim for Paris is to enjoy himself. He’s already an Olympic medallist but even that pales in comparison to what he achieved in asking for help.

“Probably, over all my achievements in sport, speaking out and saying I’m struggling with that, it’s the best achievement of my career,” he said.

“I don’t care, regardless of Olympic medal, Commonwealth success, Irish titles… it means nothing to me in terms of my mental health.

“To speak out is true strength because anybody can get in a boxing ring, anybody can prepare for a boxing fight or sporting contest. There’s so many people that don’t speak out. Sport is easy compared to that type of stuff.”