Destiny Fulfilled – Grainne Walsh believes Olympic qualification was meant to be
Grainne Walsh was never going to leave Bangkok without a ticket for this summer’s Olympic Games.
In fact, the Offaly native believes it was already stamped when she arrived in Thailand and she was just there to pick it up.
It’s not that the St Mary’s BC fighter travelled to the final Olympic qualifier arrogant and sure of qualification, more so that she adopted a bulletproof mindset and took to the ring using her many setbacks as fuel to get her over the line.
Speaking after she defeated Armenia’s Ani Hovesepyan the 66kg boxer, who came as close as possible to qualifying without stepping on the plane in Milan earlier this year, revealed she was proud of the resilience she has shown to make the Games.
The 28-year-old also suggests there was an air of destiny about proceedings and assured making the Olympics isn’t the final destination, she now looks toward stepping onto the podium.
“It’s extremely hard to sum in words this feeling,” an emotional Walsh said.
“I feel like it was all meant to be. I feel like I qualified back in Milan and I came to Bangkok to collect my ticket.
“I believe everything happens for a reason and I’m just so delighted and over the moon.
“Having my family here – I have my dad, brother and sister here – and having the support of the nation and the community in Tullamore, my mam and brother, I’m so proud of myself, it’s been a long road and it’s only the start.
“The faith that the coaches have shown in me, the road I’ve been on, all the knockbacks all had to be for this reason. If I had turned around and walked away, some people might have done that but, for me.
“Each time I got a knock back it set me up, added more strings to my bow for this and this is why this moment is all the sweeter.
“I actually can’t believe it, I’ve lived this moment in my mind a million times and to actually have it come through is unbelievable.”
