Kellie Harrington wears her heart on her sleeve. She is who she is and never wanted to have the fame and the glory of an Olympic medal change her in any way.
Remember the fluffy pigeons from the post fight interviews in Tokyo? Well, she’s a few years older now and what does she want most? She wants to be normal, to do the normal things we all take for granted.
She wants to do stuff with her family and her wife Mandy, to not worry about everything she eats, how much energy everything takes from walking to the shops to how she runs like f**K in training.
But all that is for after the next eleven weeks and her quest to become the first ever Irish sportsperson to defend an Olympic title. She raised her eyebrows when that was put to her in a meeting with media yesterday while in the offices of Wilson Hartnell talking about Spar’s Stay in the Game campaign for which she is an ambassador.
“A year is a long time since I qualified and it is hard to maintain focus for that length of time,” she said. “Now I’m going into the tunnel.”
“For the next 11 weeks I’ll eat, sleep and breathe boxing. I won’t be waking up and having chocolate bars for breakfast.”
She lost a fight last month, in the semi final of the European Championships, her first defeat in three years.
“You know there’s no harm, it’s like lighting a fire under my arse.”
“I’d never really watch back the fights that I win, I think I watched the Olympic Final maybe twice but not normally.”
“The losses though, that’s where you learn, in the ring and in life.”
“I’ve lost before, I’ve got back up and I will go again, that’s what matters.”
“I’d say that to anybody, it’s OK to lose, that happens in life.”
“You should never get too big for your boots, never too big for your roots.”
The Olympics in Paris will be it for Kellie, win or lose, but she does want to stay boxing at home and to finish up in front of her hometown fans at the National Arena, boxing for one last national title.
There won’t be a rowing back on her decision not to turn pro. “It was never for me. I’ve been boxing 20 years and that’s a tough life. You take a lot of hits, and thats with head gear and bigger gloves. The pro game you are more exposed and yeah, I’d worry about things like that.
“This is a mad sport really. The job is to go into the ring and land more punches on my opponent than she does on me. It’s not a war, I’d never set out to beat somebody to hurt them.”
She spoke about her friendship with Amy Broadhurst who has switched allegiance to Team GB in order to qualify for the games and might yet come up against Harrington in Paris.
“There’s no bad blood at all, or bad feelings. She was a team-mate.”
Having said that though there will be no question of Broadhurst’s partner, a coach in the HP set up with the Irish team, playing any part in Harrington’s preparation for the games.
“Ah no, which is a shame cause he’s a great coach, but no, that’s be like a spy in the camp.”
Harrington had a torrid time after a previous media interview and was perhaps a little wary of coming in to face the recorders and the microphones again but it’s the job and whatever misgivings she might have had disappeared within minutes.
She’s too likable to hold a grudge, too much in the moment to live in the past.
The focus now is boxing. If she carries it off, it will rank as one of Ireland’s greatest sporting achievements. But for Kellie, it won’t change normal, and chocolate for breakfast if that’s what she fancies.
Go well Champion, go well.
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