‘I can not put it into phrases’ – Harrington savours Olympic gold medal glory
Irish boxer Kellie Harrington has gained an Olympic gold medal after defeating Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira within the girls’s 60kg light-weight closing.
She gained by a unanimous factors choice to grow to be solely the second Irish feminine boxer to win an Olympic medal after Katie Taylor’s gold in London 2012.
The 31-year-old Dubliner got here robust within the second two rounds to beat the reigning world champion.
It was Eire’s eleventh ever Olympic gold medal and their second in Tokyo.
It takes the workforce’s medal haul at these Video games to 4 – two gold and two bronze.
Harrington’s household have fun her success in Portland Row, Dublin
Harrington’s success on Sunday morning was the third time Eire have gained Olympic boxing gold, with Michael Carruth successful the primary one in Barcelona in 1992 earlier than Taylor repeated the success 20 years later.
It was an 18th boxing Olympic medal in whole for Eire, greater than half of the 34 medals gained in whole.
Within the males’s marathon, Eire’s Northern Irish trio suffered within the scorching circumstances in Sapporo as 30 of the 106 rivals dropped out.
Kevin Seaward was 58th in two hours 21 minutes 45 seconds – over 11 minutes outdoors his private finest – with Paul Pollock was 71st in 2:27.48 and Stephen Scullion dropping out simply earlier than midway.
In biking, in the meantime, Eire’s Emily Kay completed thirteenth within the girls’s omnium after being concerned in a dramatic crash that included quite a lot of riders.
Quantity-one seed Harrington, who reached the ultimate after a 3-2 cut up choice win over Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee, was behind on three of the 5 judges’ playing cards after the primary spherical.
Nonetheless, she grew in confidence after that and gained 10-9 on all of the judges’ playing cards within the subsequent two rounds to take gold by a unanimous choice in what grew to become a dominant show.
Ferreira got here ahead extra in what was a decent opening spherical, however Harrington boxing on the again foot however nonetheless touchdown some good right-hand punches.
The Dubliner introduced extra selection to her recreation in spherical two as she started to get on prime with higher motion, boosted by a powerful proper hand that she delivered simply seconds after the spherical bought below method.
A robust left-hand punch from Harrington with simply over a minute of the combat remaining rocked the Brazilian, earlier than the Irish gold medal winner fell to her knees within the ring in emotional scenes after her victory.
Her gold medal success meant Eire completed joint thirty eighth within the Tokyo Olympics medal desk, alongside Israel, which was their highest medal end since they got here twenty eighth in Atlanta 1996.
‘If I may very well be in two locations at one time I might be at dwelling’
Harrington was vastly emotional throughout her medal ceremony and, talking after her victory, praised her coaches in addition to recognising the help she has been receiving from dwelling.
“I can not sum it up. I’ve simply been going with the circulate, I have never been placing stress on myself and have been taking it every spherical at a time,” she stated.
“I have been having fun with it. A variety of the time I’d be pondering ‘what am I doing right here?’ however I’ve loved each second of it.
“I’ve loved the coaches getting the techniques proper for me, the excessive efficiency coaches, my membership coach Noel Burke – they work collectively and make the proper system to go on the market and win every combat.
“I can not put it into phrases. If I may very well be in two locations on the one time I’d be at dwelling as effectively as a result of I’d say the ambiance is improbable.”
