Kellie Harrington flashes up two fingers to say she has just two minutes to talk. She has just beaten the woman she outpointed to win the gold medal at Tokyo 2020, Brazil’s Beatrix Ferreira. But the defending Olympic lightweight champion can’t help being herself, garrulous and open, despite her low-profile coming into Paris 2024.
Harrington knows that a win on Tuesday night against China’s Wenlu Yang in the gold medal fight will mean any concept of a low profile will vaporise.
At this stage, only Yang – a boxer Harrington can barely remember from eight years ago when she lost to her in a world final – stands between her and a second gold medal.
Talking long past the flagged two minutes, she says she hasn’t really thought about the Chinese boxer or assimilated what it will mean to step into history as the first Irish woman to defend an Olympic title.
To Harrington it all seems like white noise coming at her. The moment is all that matters. That has been pounded into her, an Olympic champion’s life as a string of mundane – “lonely” – tasks in the Olympic Village that she hopes will help her achieve something beautiful and life-changing.
[ Olympics: Complete day-by-day guide to the Irish athletes in action in ParisOpens in new window ]
A fight from eight years ago is a bum note to her ears. All she and coach Zaur Antia need is a performance over nine minutes against Yang on Tuesday night.
“I genuinely feel confident in the coaches and what they’re telling me to do,” she says. “Zaur has been with me since day one, since I started my international journey. All the coaches are great, but when me and Zaur work together, it works.”
The amiable Bray man via Georgia, at his fifth Olympic Games, will be in Harrington’s corner for his second gold medal fight with her. He was also there hugging Pete Taylor in the ring at the Excel Arena when Katie Taylor won her gold medal in London in 2012.
The big rolling shoulders of Antia have been a fixture in Irish boxing for decades. Trust in him is unconditional, and Harrington, a clever, adaptable boxer, is a firm believer in his method. In Harrington, he too is in no doubt of her ability or his privilege in working with her. After the win over Ferreira, he rolled over to talk.
“You saw everything. Brilliant, fantastic,” he said. “There are not many like her. She reads opponents very well, she is very vibrant, and instinct guides her brilliantly. Everything she did today, she practised.
[ Kellie Harrington targeting a golden finale to her international careerOpens in new window ]
“She lost the first round [against Ferreira in Tokyo]. Today she won. That girl [Ferreira] is a professional champion, but amateur [boxing] is different. Kellie is very fast. She has good speed. For today we used her speed and changed styles.
“Very difficult [for Ferreira]. You decide to attack, you have some combination and she’s southpaw. Then you decide something and she’s orthodox again!”
‘How many years of experience has she now? And that experience works. Of course, she’s the Olympic champion, the Chinese girl is not’
— Zaur Antia, Kellie Harrington's coach
It has been a feature of Harrington over the last three fights that she has switched from fighting right-handed (orthodox) to left-handed (southpaw). When she leads with her right hand and right foot forward, she fights southpaw. Her normal set-up is leading with the left hand and left foot forward with her right hand back, cocked and ready to land stronger shots.
The reason behind boxers switching hands during a fight is that it forces their opponent to adapt on the run. Some can, others struggle. As an amateur Olympic bronze medallist and world champion, Michael Conlan regularly switched during bouts, as did professional boxers Marvin Hagler and Naseem Hamed. It requires qualities Harrington has in abundance – versatility, agility and good feet.
Whether she will do it against 33-year-old Yang, who is an orthodox fighter, is between Harrington and Antia.
“The Chinese girl is a good girl,” says Zaur Antia. “They met each other before; the first time Kellie went to the world championships. It was a very close fight. Kellie didn’t have too much experience and she lost, but it was very close.
“After that, she [Harrington] changed lots of things. How many years of experience has she now? And that experience works. Of course, she’s the Olympic champion, the Chinese girl is not. She [Yang] is a world champion, a European champion, and now one more chance.”
That one more chance will take Harrington and Yang to the most famous arena for clay court tennis at Roland Garros, and 15,000 fans. Far from the soulless exhibition centre at the North Paris Arena, the tennis venue is in the leafy suburbs of the 16th Arrondissement beside the Bois de Boulogne and Hippodrome racecourse.
The area has splendour and history. Win or lose to Yang, that is the least the defending Olympic champion surely deserves.
