Olympic Alert – Kellie Harrington becomes a two-time Olympian

Kellie Harrington took the final step along the Parisian walkway as she stepped onto the European Games podium this afternoon.

The Dubliner added precious metal to her glittering collection and became a two-time Olympian thanks to a quarter-final victory over Agnes Alexiusson in the Nowy Targ Arena, Poland.

Harrington was just too good for a Swede she beat three times previous and secured bronze at least via a split decision victory.

The sees Harrington become a two-time Olympian and she will now set her sights on becoming only the second Irish fighter after Paddy Barnes to medal at two games and the first boxer to win two golds – although first on the to-do list will be securing European Games gold and asserting her dominance as the best lightweight amateur in the world.

A faint-tastic Harrington had her opponent second-guessing from the start of the first round. She kept the Swede on her toes with her with fast twitch movement and a variety of shots, shooting straight down to the body on occasion.

The Dubliner came off her toes in the second stanza and sat down on her shots that bit more. Combinations replaced single well-picked scoring punches and the usually fleet-footed talent was pushing her quarter-final opponent back on occasion.

Reigning Tokyo Olympic lightweight champion, Kellie Harrington, has booked her place at #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/b5C99rYRGj

— IABA (@IABABOXING) June 28, 2023

As expected the Swede came fighting for her Olympic life in the final round and did land some shots but for the most part, her more aggressive approach only allowed the Olympic gold medal winner to show off her extreme talent.

The Inner City Dub walked Alexiusson onto a number of clean punches in the first half of the stanza and was catching and countering at the end of a fast-paced more competitive entertaining round.

Just minutes earlier Jennifer Lehane fell at the final Olympic hurdle. The Ashbourne native’s impressive Euroepan Games run was brought to an end by Stanimira Petrova. The decorated Bulgarian, who has a European Games, two European Championships and a World Championship gold medal in her trophy cabinet, was too long an illusive for the school teacher.