Olympics 24: Boxers Kellie and Grainne flying the flag for St Mary’s and Ireland
THERE are not too many clubs that can boast that they have two members participating at the Paris Olympics this summer.
Well St Mary’s Boxing Club in Tallaght can, as they have two members Kellie Harrington and Grainne Walsh, who will be flying the flag for their club and Ireland at the games.
This will be Kellie’s second time attending the Olympic Games and we all remember what happened in 2021 when she secured gold in the 60kg lightweight division in Tokyo.
The defending champion will be the third seed in the lightweight division behind number one seed China’s Yang Wenlu, a bronze medallist in World championships in New Delhi last year.
World professional IBF lightweight championship and current amateur world 60kg champion Beatrice Ferreira from Brazil is the number two seed. Kellie overcame Ferreira in the lightweight final at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Kellie, who is now 34-years-old, will be hoping her experience gets her through to the final stages and is looking forward to the games.
Speaking on her official selection, Harrington, said: “I’m heading out for my second Olympic Games, and I can’t wait. It’s a big team, we have ten boxers, which is fantastic.
The biggest difference between Tokyo and this Olympics is that there will be people in the crowd, and with that a lot of noise, so it will be all about us controlling our emotions.
I’m glad to be part of history, as this will be the hundredth year that Team Ireland competed in the Olympic Games – so we are already part of history.”
Grainne Walsh will be competing at 66kg welterweight after the 28-year-old qualified in Thailand in June for the Olympic Games after beating Ani Hovsepyan of Armenia.
From Tullamore in Offaly, Walsh competed in the European Games in 2019 and won a bronze medal, and also won bronze ay the European Union in 2017. Grainne also played soccer with Shamrock Rovers for three years before she started boxing.
Ten boxers will compete for Team Ireland at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
Ireland will field boxers in all female categories in the competition which takes place from July 27 to August 10.
The preliminary rounds of the boxing take place in the Arena Paris Nord, while the semi-finals and the finals will be held in the iconic Rolland Garros Stadium.
Boxing is Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport, boasting 18 of our 38 medals. One of the medallists returning to the Olympic ring is Olympic Champion, Kellie Harrington.
Speaking on the official selection, Performance Director, Tricia Heberle said,
“The Olympic Games is the pinnacle of our sport. That we have qualified the largest Boxing team since Rome of 1960, speaks not only to the strength of our High Performance programme, supported by the OFI, Sport Ireland and SportNI, but also to the quality of coaching in the clubs in which our Paris athletes began their boxing careers.
Team Ireland is the only NOC in Europe to have qualified a full team of women, which is a remarkable achievement given that Paris 2024 is only the fourth Olympic cycle in which women may box.
That our team includes two Tokyo medalists in Kellie Harrington and Aidan Walsh shows just how exceptional this group of athletes is.
They are well prepared, they are focused on their key performance goals and they are ready to contest at the highest possible level.”
Olympics 24: Golden girls Kellie and Grainne ‘raring to go’ for Paris Olympics
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