Ireland’s double Olympic champion Kellie Harrington has cried tears of joy as she returned home to Dublin after her success in Paris.
Harrington cruised through the women’s lightweight final against Wenlu Yang to retain her Olympic title on Tuesday last week.
The success made her the only Irish boxer to contest and win back-to-back Olympic finals.
The 34-year-old, who said she would “retire a champion” after Paris, won her first gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
She is also the first Irish woman to win medals at two Olympic Games.
At a homecoming event in Dublin’s north inner city on Tuesday, Harrington was greeted with cheers and requests for selfies as she proudly strolled through her home neighbourhood.
Wearing her two gold medals, she wiped away tears of joy as she waved to the crowd.
Children wrapped themselves in Irish tricolours as they roared the name of the Olympic champion who grew up in nearby Portland Row.
Accompanied by Dublin Fire Brigade’s pipe band, she travelled down Sean McDermott Street from Diamond Park towards the Five Lamps landmark.
The two-time Olympic champion greeted fans as she took the stage at Killarney Street where the Dubliner danced on stage with singer Gemma Dunleavy as hundreds of people packed into a residential street to catch a glimpse of their hero.
Addressing her neighbours and fans, Harrington said: “This just means the world to me.
“I just want to say thank you to absolutely every one of you for all the support.
“I just hope that all the kids, teenagers and young adults have seen that hard work and dedication, the highs and the many lows – it gives you the heart and the grit to understand that we can do anything we set our minds to.
“But you have to work for it, and you have to work hard.”
She added: “I love you all – you’re all legends.”
Local woman Phyllis O’Callaghan sat in Killarney Street with members of her family to cheer on Harrington.
Ms O’Callaghan said: “We love Kellie. She’s just such a humble, down to earth person – a lovely, lovely girl.”
Billy McGann, a young boxer who said he became all-Ireland champion in his category earlier this year, described Harrington as “inspirational”.
He said: “Every boxer in Ireland looks up to Kellie and Katie Taylor.”
He hopes to follow in Harrington’s footsteps by competing in his first Olympics in 2032.
Harrington’s homecoming followed an earlier celebration on Monday dedicated to the wider Olympic team on the capital’s main thoroughfare.
More than 20,000 cheering fans on O’Connell Street welcomed the athletes home after the country’s most successful medal haul.
A total of 64 women and 69 men represented Team Ireland across 14 sports at the Paris Games, winning four gold medals and three bronze.
