History. And an end. And Kellie Harrington did it her way.
The record books will show that she retained her Olympic lightweight title with a win against Yang Wenlu, and on the back of three, sublime performances against opposition from Italy, Colombia and Brazil, but the beauty of it is more in the breaths taken outside the ropes. Her final was the only one held at the home of French tennis on Tuesday night. It was also the first of boxing’s deciders at these Olympic Games.
The first and the only. Both seem right for a woman who has been out on her own in many ways here in France. Part of a biggest ever ten-strong Irish team, she was the only one to stay standing through the rank decisions, the poor refereeing, the tough opponents and the ostracization of this competition’s early rounds out in the sticks under a Charles de Gaulle airport flightpath.
She had explained long before this about how her first gold medal was won for everyone else, and that this one was for her. It was her wife Mandy who had put that in her head. She liked it and she ran with it, and took it to extremes through this last two weeks.
She begged interviewers and colleagues not to tell her the identity of her next opponent after a win. She didn’t care about the fact that this final would be played out in such august surroundings. She put the head down and stuck the bristles out.
Hedgehog mode. And now, in what she says was to be her last ever time in an international ring, Harrington has become the first Irish woman to win medals in two Olympic Games. The one and the only.
Every boxer is alone in a ring. Being alone, separated, outside of it worked for her too. Her legacy had already been set in stone before these Games.
What she did here merely added another layer or two of cement to it, raising her status a few inches higher again and ensuring that those following her will have more to aim for and believe possible. A boxer apart, she joins Pat O’Callaghan, Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan as the only Irish athletes to defend Olympic titles, but the absence of competitive company in terms of teammates here still stung. One or more of Aidan Walsh, Daina Moorehouse or Grainne Walsh could have made it through their divisions to appear in one of the six semi-finals that preceded Harrington’s showdown with the Chinese fighter on this first night out at the home of French tennis.
Sitting there waiting for the Dubliner to top the bill, it was impossible not to think how this was a lost opportunity for so many among the other nine, not least Aoife O’Rourke who was a strong fancy to go all the way this week. Still. Harrington might not have cared for the venue either way.
It might have been superfluous to her mindset and her business, but it was hard not to imagine her sitting silent and stone-faced in her dressing-room somewhere but aware of the bouncing walls around her. The furore that has followed Imane Khelif - with issues over XY chromosomes, gender eligibility tests, accusations of bullying and the whole entanglement in the usual culture wars - through this tournament wasn’t in evidence as she fought here. An enormous Algerian support waved their flags and roared their support, the women’s ululations soundtracking the fight against Thailand’s Janjem Suwannapheng and their fighter’s semi-final win before the DJ kicked back into gear with his French hip hop.
The arena was actually half-empty but somehow still full of noise by the time Harrington made her entrance shortly before 11.25pm local time, the loud and boisterous Irish support filling any voids with their tricolours and their cheers for ‘Kellie’. It was only when the bout was done, before the decision was called, that she broke from her self-imposed cocoon and urged the crowd into a roar with her hands.
And then she really let loose once her right hand was raised by referee Jeffery Verhoeven of Canada. She danced and smiled and she jumped into the arms of her coaches. And then Zaur Antia climbed through the ropes to dance with her.
Joyous. Fulfilling. Cathartic after the struggles she has had in recent years.
And utterly deserved..
