Olympic boxing champion Kellie Harrington confirmed she is hanging up her boxing gloves after her second gold medal in the women’s lightweight division.
The double gold winner, who after her victory on Tuesday night in the Roland Garros stadium in Paris said she was “98 per cent” sure she was retiring, confirmed the decision on Thursday.
She is also hoping to support other Irish athletes including Rhasidat Adeleke in the 400m sprint final and Daniel Wiffen in the 10,000m open water swim, and “decompress” before “heading home to the madness” of victory celebrations.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she described the decision to retire as a “feeling of relief and release basically and just I know now that it’s done, dusted and what a way to go out”.
READ MORE
Olympian David Gillick: ‘I coach children. It can be hard dealing with parents ... some get so caught up on results’
Happiness is not considered to be an important goal in some cultures
An Irishwoman in Paris: I feel a magnetic drag to be Franco-Irish and participate in French politics
Jordan Chiles appeals to Swiss supreme court over stripping of Olympic bronze
“I think the fact that I know that I am now done, and the fact that I am finishing this way ... ‘cos a lot of the time people don’t know when to finish, and I’m happy that I am making that decision to finish it this way, my way, and go out as a double Olympic champion.
“That’s it, that was it, done, dusted, I’ve nothing more to prove, not even to myself, which is the most important thing.”
Asked about her post-retirement plans she said: “I don’t know. I still have my [part-time cleaning] job but they are knocking that hospital down bit by bit so who knows?
“I’ve only started to think of that in the last two hours.”
As for training, she said “I’m relieved to be done with the scales, there’s no doubt about that. But I’ll always train because I believe that training helps me with my mental health, helps me to release those good endorphins and to feel good about myself. So I’ll always train”.
“I’ll be hanging around the Sport [Ireland] institute, they are not going to get rid of me that easy. I do feel like I have a lot of stuff that I can pass on to other athletes, so I want to be able to do that.”
The 34-year-old from Portland Row in Dublin’s north inner city said she has not yet come to terms with her achievement.
“I think I just need time to rest and digest it,” she said, following her victory over China’s Wenlu Yang in the final, and three years after her Tokyo Olympics gold medal.
The medal ceremony and the raising of the Irish flag were “special”.
Harrington added: “To get to the Olympics is a mountain in itself, and then when you get there to set foot on to a podium is a massive, massive mountain.
“But then to see your nation’s flag at the top of the podium, that’s just special, because there’s not many people in the world who get to do it and I know I’m doing it twice now. I can just see everybody at home, in my head, celebrating as well, just amazing.”
Asked if she had seen any of the coverage of the support from home she said “I got to see some of it. At half six in the morning I was sitting there looking at it on my phone and I actually hadn’t been emotional thinking of the impact it had on people.
“I was more emotional thinking thank God it’s just done. But when I watched the videos and listened to the people speaking I was like ‘oh my God I can’t believe it’. This is inspiring people. It’s an amazing experience to be able to do that for people.”
Speaking of events after her victory, Harrington said: “I had to go and do anti-doping so you have to get tested and stuff, which is great. It’s absolutely vital that everyone gets tested.
“So we didn’t get out of there till two o’clock and then we went and had a McDonald’s, but it was like a ‘meet and greet’ in McDonald’s.
“It was just loads of French people but it was great. It was really great. I didn’t get a wink of sleep until last night so from five o’clock on the [Tuesday] morning I weighed in until half eleven last night I hadn’t slept.”
She “was like a zombie walking around the Olympic Village” due to a lack of sleep after her victory, but “I was delighted to see [my wife] Mandy. We got her into the Olympic Village on a day pass so she got to experience that as well.”
Her phone has been “hopping. I haven’t got back to everybody because I need to take a bit of time to breathe myself”.
There were “just so many people and I’ll be forever grateful for all the support, from at home and people out here as well. It’s actually a bit overwhelming, a little bit”.
Asked about the difference to her first gold medal experience at the Tokyo Games in 2021 with few fans because of Covid pandemic restrictions Harrington said: “So different, so different obviously cos I’ve never boxed in front of a crowd that big and I always thought that if I did I’d be really nervous and I wouldn’t perform.
“But it was totally the opposite. They lifted me, they gave you that bit of a lift when you needed it. I’ll be forever grateful for that because that’s what they done, they lifted me when I needed it.”
Told that the postboxes in the Portland Row area were being painted gold for her homecoming, she quipped that “those bins have been painted gold since 2021″. She does not know what the plan is yet for her homecoming but “I’m just taking it all in my stride because it can be a bit overwhelming.
“I’m just trying to enjoy a bit of time here and decompress before I head home to the madness.”
A homecoming event for the Irish Olympic team will take place at 12.30pm on Monday outside the GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street.