Double Delight – Kellie Harrington is a two-time Olympic medal winner
Kellie Harrington is a two-time Olympic medal winner.
The Darling of Dublin sauntered stylishly onto the podium in Paris today, winning Bronze at least to join Paddy Barnes on the list of back-to-back boxing Olympic medal winners.
The St Mary’s boxers was pure class against Angie Paola Valdes, whose quality is underlined by her World and Pan-America silver medal wins.
The 34-year-old switch hitter was only ever under pressure in the first round and consulted all her talent and skill to make a talented Columbian look average, eventually securing a unanimous points win with relative ease.
The victory sees the Inner City Dub become the first female boxer to become a two-time Olympic medal winner and the Portland Row star is now just two wins away from becoming Irish boxing’s only two-time gold medal winner.
The victory also cements Harrington’s status as an Irish boxing great and one of the greatest lightweights ever to do it.
Harrington now faces the winner of Tokyo silver medalist Beatriz Ferreira and Chelsey Heijnen in the final four on Friday.
The opening round was tight and tense with both landing backhands early as they tried to feel their way into the fight. Two sensationally timed southpaw lead hooks from the switch hitter were the eye-catching shots of the session that possibly won her the round across the board.
Harrington hit full flo and looked a lot more comfortable in the second. In control and with a first-round cushion she picked shots beautifully and boxed to her brilliant best, although two judges scored the round level.
Valdes went into the last needing a knockout down or knockout to win and as if to discourage her from going for it, the Dubliner landed two big left hands early in the session.
It was followed by some more accurate shots as Harrington showed she had the measure of her quarter-final foe. It became exhibition stuff in the final 90 seconds as the Irish great strolled onto the podium.
