Her name will resound in Irish legend for generations KELLIE’S DEVOTION REACHES THE GOLD STANDARD
SHANE McGRATH
THE WONDER of Kellie Harrington is that we think she’s just like us. She is warm and funny and plain-spoken, and she jokes about the state of her making her resemble a fluffy pigeon.
And shortly after she burnished her name in Irish legend, to stand proud and apart for as long as sport is celebrated, she insisted that winning an Olympic gold medal won’t change her.
She talks the way we like to think we might were we to stand on the top step of a podium and hear Amhrán na bhFiann.
Kellie Harrington seems normal, and that alone is a tribute to the strength of her personality. Because she isn’t like one of us. Thanks to what she did inside a quarter of an hour yesterday morning, Harrington is now a precious sporting force in this country: a champion that we can believe in, a role model for boys and girls, a winner whose life and dedication are inspirational for a country exhausted by the pandemic and the failures in official Ireland’s response.
Of course Harrington’s legend was not formed inside three breathless rounds against the Brazilian brawler Beatriz Ferreira.
The women’s lightweight final was, rather, the consequence of Harrington devoting more than half of her life to boxing. As she got better, her commitment deepened and her life was shaped more and more by the sport.
She has made tremendous sacrifices for boxing, and despite her talent the return on all her time and sweat and energy was not guaranteed.
The list of boxers left distraught after Olympic judging decisions is an extensive one, but there are other risks to an athlete climbing between the ropes.
They include form and fitness, and that Harrington’s story has ended in such a blaze of success further testifies to her character.
There are very few who could cope with the physical and mental demands made of an Olympic champion. Talent is only part of the story, and perhaps not even the major part.
It’s all the other demands that usually end up burning off ambitious athletes. Becoming a champion demands complete immersion in an ascetic lifestyle that carries a greater risk of failure than reward.
And that is why Kellie Harrington is different to the rest of us.
Her name is going to resound in Irish legend for generations. That doesn’t happen by accident – or to very many people.
Even if Harrington does succeed in returning to the life she left behind in Dublin in June, her status as an Olympic champion will always distinguish her and make her a woman apart, however discreetly.
But she is determined to recapture that old life, which must feel a thousand years ago now.
‘My circle is very small and it will be staying very small,’ she vowed. ‘I just want to keep doing what I’m doing. There’s nothing going to change from here out.
‘I’m not going to be thinking I’m something I’m not. I’ll just continue to be this way, apart from having me gold medal, and that’s it. I’m not going to change. Everything stays the same, my feet stay on the ground.’
That could sound like someone trying to convince themselves, but Harrington does appear to have the depth of character to live the life she envisages.
She foresees missing a fortnight of work, perhaps three weeks, after fulfilling all the necessary public health requirements on her return, but she sounded like someone who cannot wait to return to her job in St Vincent’s hospital in Fairview, on Dublin’s northside.
One hopes that there are some alterations in her life, that she can enjoy some of the commercial benefits of becoming an Olympic champion.
When one considers the array of sporting figures who have vigorous commercial profiles in this country, and who cannot match the global scale of Harrington’s success, her appeal to sponsors and advertisers should be enormous.
Beyond the rather cold language of business, Harrington’s Tokyo legacy will be extensive.
She is a role model, and a willing one, but the lessons contained in her career apply to more than a starry-eyed youth demographic.
The manner in which she handled the pressure and expectation that attended every move she made in Tokyo was a lesson in sporting grace.
Harrington was the first of the two finalists out for yesterday’s final. Her jaw was set, her eyes steady and she looked tense but sharply focussed.
Ferreira made a more combustible appearance, swinging punches and looking down the camera.
The Brazilian was highly rated by analysts before the fight, and her furious first-round performance justified the respect.
She was shorter and more solidly built than Harrington, a powerpacked blur of furious energy and determination.
The manner in which Harrington dealt with her threat in the second round will enthral the boxing specialists for weeks to come as they pick it apart, but even the casual eye could appreciate the brilliance of Harrington’s display.
She quelled the threat of Ferreira but did more than that, carrying the battle to the Brazilian and loading up problems for her opponent to consider.
That made the third round a fraught three-minute matter of endurance for Harrington. She needed to stay out of trouble and keep the referee and judges busy with her contributions, too.
She managed the balance expertly, and Harrington looked flushed with relief at the final bell.
The real emotion spilled forth at the medal presentation, and Harrington’s tears as she stood for her anthem will be a sporting memory that endures for years.
This was a precious instance of a good thing happening to a good person, of a brilliant athlete having their talent honoured in the most powerful way, of a wonderful boxer surviving the unknowable world of boxing judgement.
Her success closed what was an enthralling Olympics. There were many of us who believed these Games should not have gone ahead at all, and that they did was largely down to commercial priorities outweighing public health considerations.
There were daily protests outside venues by members of the Tokyo population, the majority of whom did not want the Olympics going ahead in the midst of a virus surge in the city.
And there are grave fears, too, that the after-effects of tens of thousands of visitors to the city on Olympic business will be a sharp increase in case numbers.
And yet the Olympics will be considered a good one. Despite all, the sporting stories were as compelling as ever.
From an Irish perspective, the first week of the Games was dominated by rowing success, the second by Harrington’s excellence and the memories of Aidan Walsh’s bronze medal.
It was no surprise that a successful Irish Olympics is framed by rowing and boxing, the two sports that are now Ireland’s outstanding Olympic pursuits.
Boxing has been a traditional force, its impact sharpened and improved by a high performance culture that is often strong enough to endure the turbulence that occasionally rocks the sport.
Rowing has an honourable place in Ireland’s Olympic tradition, too, but over the past two cycles success has taken tangible form in medals.
Interesting stories abounded between these two sports, from the misfortune of Natalya Coyle to the courage of Brendan Boyce and Fionnuala McCormack, and the tremendous promise of Nhat Nguyen and Mona McSharry.
The middling fortunes of Irish athletes on the track should prompt a discussion about how teams are selected, and if a more rigorous — and consequently strict — selection policy should be applied.
But this was, generally, a good Irish Olympics. And given the global backdrop, that is both extraordinary and heart-warming.
The nature of a pandemic Games means most of the Irish team are already home, but the arrival of Kellie Harrington back into her home city will frame more unforgettable scenes.
Her background has not been easy, as she has freely discussed, while the community that adores her, and which she adores in turn, has been menaced by some wretched problems for years and years.
Those issues won’t go away because of one gold medal, but that medal, and the woman that earned it, are a reminder of the potential that beats in every neighbourhood in Ireland.
Sport can be a brilliant way to unlock it. And Kellie Harrington will be a marvellous ambassador for what is possible in this life.
Very few achieve in the way she now has.
She is a rare and glittering talent. She is a woman apart. But she is so humble and wears her class so lightly, that she seems just like one of us.
She is the very best of us.
She is so humble and carries her class lightly
@shanemgrath1