“Regardless of the colour of the medal, it’s a massive achievement.”
Irish boxer Kellie Harrington has made it to the women’s lightweight Olympic final after defeating Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee in the semi-finals this morning.
The Dubliner has guaranteed herself at least a silver medal following the 3-2 victory.
Sunday’s final will see her up against Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira, who won against Finnish Mira Potkonen in the semi finals.
After the fight, Harrington spoke to RTÉ about what it means to represent Ireland.
She said: “Regardless of the colour of the medal, obviously it’s a massive achievement, but the support of the people back home, to put a smile on the nation’s face.
“If I had won here today or not I’d have told them to keep smiling, because it’s still an incredible journey. And I’m just happy to be able to lift all of those people. It’s just great.”
She added: “I can’t really believe what’s happening.”
Harrington spoke about how she’s faced her Thai opponent before, and how it was an incredibly close fight.
“I boxed her in 2018 in the World final and it was a 3-2 split decision,” she said. “It was a chess match back then and it was a chess match today again.”
The boxer praised Seesondee’s skills: “She’s a fantastic operator. She has a really strong left-hand so I was trying not to get hit with that, trying to tease her on, make her throw and then counter.
“I felt a bit more comfortable towards the end, standing instead of running and it’s fantastic, just brilliant.”
Harrington added that she’ll work with her coaches to come up with a plan for Sunday’s fight.
“It’ll be exciting,” she said. “It’s just going to be what will it be. I’ll speak to the coaches, we’ll come up with a plan all together and start to work on that.
“As my brother says, the last mile is never crowded and that’s the way it does feel sometimes. It does feel very lonely but I suppose the’s the difference to be able to hold on in there and keep it going.”
