“Here a Little While Longer” – It was Paris or Retirement for Kellie Harrington
Kellie Harrington revealed she would have retired from boxing if she hadn’t qualified for a second Olympics today.
The reigning Olympic lightweight champion became a two-time Olympian when she Sweden’s Agnes Alexiusson to pick up a European Games bronze medal [at least] in Poland.
The 4-1 win over a fighter she bettered three times previously didn’t only see the St Mary’s BC fighter step onto the podium it earned Harrington the right to step onto the plane to Paris 2024.
Speaking after she revealed if she had not earned her ticket to Paris she’d have punched her boxing ticket and hung up her gloves rather than pack them for another boxing adventure.
“I feel like I’m finally back again, enjoying it again,” she said. “There was a moment I didn’t think I wanted to be here. I was retiring without telling anybody after this if I didn’t qualify for Paris. So, it looks like I’m going to be here a little while longer.
Harrington revealed she has struggled somewhat for motivation of late, something which she feels affected her performances and her enjoyment of the sport.
The Inner City Dub says she only really got her mojo back in recent months and suggests she needed it to get over the Olympic qualifying line on Wednesday.
“I often heard people say, once you get to the top it’s like, ‘Okay, where do I go from there?’ Now I’ve been there and that’s kind of what happened. I’ve never celebrated any of (the victories) at all. It was like: ‘What’s next? What’s next?’ I feel like I was chasing something that I didn’t even know what I’m chasing. So I haven’t been enjoying it because I didn’t know what I was looking for.
“It’s a matter of overcoming that over the last few months. The last camp has been amazing and that’s made me feel like I’m able to keep up with them, that I must be getting closer to where I was and that’s what made me.”
