Kellie Harrington has won gold at the Olympic final in a resounding victory over China’s Wenlu Yang in the women’s 60kg final.
Harrington is the first Irish woman to win medals at successive Olympic Games.
Standing in her way of turning her silver medal to gold was China’s Yang. The 33-year-old was the top seed and came to Paris as the 60kg titleholder from last year’s Asian Games.
Following a cagey start, Yang began to land more punches and looked to be in control, but Harrington regained her composure and landed a flurry of body shots before the bell went.
The Chinese boxer burst out of the blocks in the second round with a strong punch to the nose, but Harrington continued to cause damage with some heavy body shots.
In a significant victory, the Dubliner won the first round, with judges awarding her the round by 4-1, while by the end of the second round she still led the judges 3-2.
A comfortable final round saw the Irish fighter land some quick jabs to wrap up Ireland’s fourth gold medal of the Games.
In front of a large crowd of family and fans who made the way to the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, the 34-year-old from Portland Row in Dublin city centre was understandably joyous in victory, after an emotional evening that ended with a split decision, but one to savour for the Irish athlete.
After the fight, Harrington - now a double Olympic champion - announced her retirement from the ring.
It marks a record fourth gold medal at a single Games for Team Ireland, following on from Daniel Wiffen, Rhys McClenaghan and rowers Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy who also achieved gold at the Paris Olympics.
Harrington has previously said there are no easy fights at the Olympics, and tonight proved her right. However, she rarely seemed in trouble and in the last round landed some superb punches.
On Saturday, Kellie Harrington admitted she felt like an “underdog” after reaching her second successive Olympic boxing final with a split-decision victory over Beatriz Ferreira in the women’s 60kg semi-final.
In a rematch of their Tokyo 2020 final – in which Harrington emerged victorious – the Irish boxer started brightly with some good jabs to her opponent’s face and began to land a few stronger punches before Ferreira finished with a couple of good hits.
Post-fight on Saturday, Harrington expressed her happiness at reaching the final.
The 34-year-old said: “It just feels fantastic to get that fight out the way because Bea is a fantastic opponent and since Tokyo she’s gone on to do great things in the professional ranks and I felt like I was the underdog in there today.
“I knew she had a point to prove, all anyone’s been talking about is, ‘you’re going to meet Beatriz’ and I was like, ‘it might not happen’.
“It has happened and, thankfully, it turned out the way it turned out.
“I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Tokyo, that’s for sure.
“I just feel happy, I think the happiness is because I’m coming to the end of the road and I think I just know there’s life at the end of the tunnel.”
Heading to the Olympics, the Dubliner was third seed in the women’s 60kg, getting her campaign under way on July 29th against Italy’s Alessia Mesiano, securing a 5-0 victory.
Awaiting Harrington in the quarter-final was Colombian Angie Valdes, and it was another comprehensive win for the reigning Olympic champion, ending 4-1.
