The steeply banked stands may have been named after four famous French tennis players, les Quatre Mousquetaires—Brugnon, Borotra, Cochet, and Lacoste, but lightweight Olympic champion Kellie Harrington turned the French tennis cathedral at Roland Garros into a boxing house of joy on Tuesday night.
Ireland’s defending lightweight champion from Tokyo 2020 etched her name into Irish sporting history with a 4-1 win over China’s Wenlu Yang to earn her second gold medal.
In doing so Harrington made history by becoming the only Irish boxer ever to contest back-to-back Olympic finals in boxing, and the first Irish woman to win medals at two Olympic Games.
Harrington walked on to centre court as she always has, walleyed and focused, pausing just to take in a breath and shake both of her shoulders as she emerged from the locker room.
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Tricolours draped over the divides and green shirts were everywhere in the stadium, the roof closed, with every shot fired whether it missed or hit cheered by both sides. From the wall of noise the arena also fell into periods of nervous silence as the pair circled the ring, before suddenly erupting again.
Less than two days ago tennis player Novak Djokovic won his gold medal here in the men’s singles. Now Harrington can lay claim to winning her second title on the same court as the 24-time Grand Slam champion won his.
A gold and a silver medal for the 34-year-old would have been a stunning achievement but back-to-back Olympic titles takes her to the very summit of the Irish sporting hierarchy.
Harrington came out boxing orthodox, Yang not afraid to come forward and engage. Both champions exchanged in the opening minute, Harrington using her jab and begging to unleash her backhand right.
Yang was busy, had quick hands and was throwing right hands behind her jab, but nothing exceptional landed on the Irish champion. Both were cautious with a flurry of exchanges near the end catching the eyes of the judges, who scored the first round 4-1 to the defending champion.
Katie Taylor won gold in London and was beaten in Rio, although there will always be an asterisk beside those Games because of corruption findings in a report by Professor Richard McLaren, while Sonia O’Sullivan won 5,000m silver in Sydney.
But Harrington’s Olympic pedigree coming into Paris was pristine in that she won her four fights in Tokyo, beating Italy’s Rebecca Nicoli in the round of 16 before defeating the Algerian boxer who is at the centre of a gender controversy in Paris, Imane Khelif. That 5-0 win set up Harrington with a bout against Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee before the final against the Brazilian fighter she beat last week in the semi-finals, Beatriz Ferreira.
In Paris, she also got a bye before a first 5-0 win over Italy’s Alessia Mesiano. That mood remained with another 5-0 win over sixth seed Columbian Paula Valdes Pana, the armed forces fighter. Ferreira came and went, leaving just Wang.
Harrington’s Olympic career has been a string of eight straight wins and now she leaves that run over two Olympiads in pristine condition.
Yang had to respond in the second round, and Harrington would have expected more go-forward aggression from the Chinese 33-year-old. Yang did open smartly, but poise and control had been the hallmark of Harrington’s first three fights and she was not drawn into a punching match.
Her distance control and precision when she lunged forward was clearly pleasing to the eye of the judges. Nothing spectacular or ostentatious, Harrington quietly picked away at her opponent, building up a score. The scoring from the judges’ cards for the second round had her 4-1 ahead again.
The 34-year-old Dubliner joins an exclusive club of three boxers, alongside Liverpudlian Nicola Adams who won gold at flyweight at London 2012 and Rio 2016, with Claressa Shields winning the middleweight gold at the same two Olympic Games.
The good news for Ireland was Harrington had a title-winning advantage going into the third round with Yang needing a special session to make up for lost ground. Although she handsomely won it 4-1, the match-winning three minutes never arrived, Harrington swivelling out of unnecessary contact and sticking to the plan of boxing from distance.
Even as the crowd chanted ‘Kellie, Kellie, Kellie’ the Olympic champion stayed patient, Yang’s corner animatedly telling her to come forward and score.
Easier said than done, Harrington, majestic and fully in control, used the ring to maintain her lead, losing the last round but winning the fight. The lasting image of her and coaches Zaur Antia and Damian Kennedy dancing in a huddle on what in a normal night would have been the service box of a French Open. But this was no normal night for Kellie Harrington. Two golds and confirmation she will retire. As a legend of Irish sport.
