A SEAT OF POWER

Irish Olympic hopeful Harrington has her gaze fully fixed on Japan

KELLIE HARRINGTON insists she has no Tokyo drift as her sole focus is on qualifying for the her first Olympics when boxing resumes.

The former lightweight world champ (right) has dismissed from her mind IOC confirmation that the rearranged Games will be cancelled if they don’t happen in July 2021.

The Dubliner was frustrated in March when the European qualifying tournament in London was called off as the Covid-19 shutdown belatedly got underway in the UK.

“I’m back to the crawling stage now,” Harrington admitted. “I was so close to walking, so close to the Olympics but they’re gone now.

“Another year. It’s out of my head again. I don’t really get fogged up on that.

“Once I qualify then I’ll worry about the Olympics. If you don’t qualify it’s never going to happen.”

Harrington went back to work as a hospital cleaner in the middle of the pandemic, but she has been busy with her training at home too.

She has her garage converted into a small gym with weights, spin bike and air assault bike.

A boxing bag is installed out the back and her partner, Mandy, does pads with her. Harrington records the work and sends it on to the Ireland coaches, who tell her where she has to improve.

“The sessions are just not as intense as what they would be with the team,” the 30-year-old conceded.

“When you’re in a team environment, you’re pushing yourself a bit more – there’s someone on the bag beside you maybe going a little bit faster, so you want to push yourself faster.

“I am very motivated but it’s hard to push yourself against yourself. I’m really focusing on the fitness, my punching power and technique. “It’s kind of like a waiting game now.” The Olympic Federation of Ireland want elite athletes to be able to return to their training centres.

But Harrington has made her peace with the situation, though her only four fights in an injury-disrupted last 12 months came in a multi-nations tournament in Finland in January.

“The way I’m looking at that is, yeah, I’ve had only four fights but none of the other girls are fighting now either so we’re all in the same boat,” she said. “GB have been back since June 1, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think that maybe we would be a little bit behind.

“But we’ve loads of time to get ready. There’s no point in getting too worried about it. I’m still doing enough here.

“When I do get back out there then I can sharpen up the tools - I’m sure we’ll have loads of sparring. The break makes you more hungry.

“The people back on June 1, they’re going to be wrecked come the end of the year, whereas we’ll be nice and fresh, hungry and ready to go.”

Harrington loves to point young people down the sporting path that she took so successfully herself.

As Ireland team captain, Harrington has become a leader at international level in the boxing ring and has also become a role model to kids in Dublin’s inner city.

With people she knows or has a connection with, she tries to make a difference in a mentoring role.

“I enjoy doing that kind of stuff, that’s the way I like giving back, I like being able to help someone,” she said.

“They are now in shoes that I’ve been in before so I like to be able to help people who are going through the same stuff that I went through - and hopefully they’ll be able to come out of it the same way that I did.

“I like to conduct myself in a manner where I’d like people to do as I’m doing.”

I just try to carry a good level of professionalism with me when I’m in and out of the (Sport Ireland) Institute.”