Kellie Harrington’s Olympic success ranked most impactful sports story of 2021

The most impactful sports story of 2021 was Kellie Harrington’s Tokyo gold medal win, according to a recently published review.

The Core Cultural Index rates the most impactful stories from the past 12 months through monthly interviews conducted with 1,000 members of the Irish public.

Harrington’s Toyko tale comes out on top and was voted the most impactful sports story of the year.

The St Mary’s lightweight captured the hearts of the nation over the summer and thus captured 62% of the vote.

It comes not long after the Portland Row fighter was named Ireland’s most Marketable Athlete and her fourth place in Ireland’s Most Admired list behind Roy Keane, Brian O’Drisscol, and Katie Taylor.

The 2020 European Championships features heavily in the top 10, despite the Republic of Ireland failing to qualify for the tournament.

Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy and their Olympic gold medal winning success in Tokyo, feature in third place on the list.

Meanwhile, Mayo beating Dublin in the GAA football championship and Rachael Blackmore winning at Cheltenham were also high ranking in terms of important sports stories.

Christian Eriksen’s collapse during Denmark’s game against Finland was ranked the second and the racial abuse aimed at England players following their Euro 2020 final defeat ranked fourth.