Kellie Anne Harrington (born 11 December 1989) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

amateur boxer Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

, amateur World champion and an Olympic gold medallist. She was a silver medallist in the

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

division at the 2016 Women's World Boxing Championships. She won the gold medal in the

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

division at the 2018 Women's World Boxing Championships and won the gold medal in the

division at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on 8 August 2021.

Career

Kellie Harrington and Emmet Brennan returning from 2020 Summer Olympics 04

She won a silver medal in the

division at the 2017 Women's European Union Boxing Championships and a bronze at the 2018 Women's European Boxing Championships. She won the gold medal in the

division at the 2018 Women's World Boxing Championships. She was the silver medallist in the

division at the 2016 Women's World Boxing Championships.

2020 Summer Olympics

Harrington won the 2020 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, by defeating Caroline Dubois on a split decision in the final. Harrington was part of the

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

team at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. She was one of the flag bearers for Ireland at the opening ceremony on 23 July. She competed in the

division of the

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

competition. In her first fight, she defeated Rebecca Nicoli 5–0 to advance to the quarter-finals, where she then defeated Imane Khelif 5–0 to guarantee at least a bronze medal. In her semi-final on 5 August, Harrington defeated

Sudaporn Seesondee Sudaporn Seesondee ( th, สุดาพร สีสอนดี, born 4 October 1991) is a Thai boxer. She won the silver medal in the women's 60kg event at the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia. She won the bronze medal in the wo ...

3–2 to advance to the final. In her final on 8 August, Harrington defeated

Beatriz Ferreira Beatriz Iasmin Soares Ferreira (; born 9 December 1992) is a Brazilian boxer. She won a medal at the 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships. She represented Brazil at the 2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known ...

5–0 winning the gold medal, becoming Ireland's third Olympic boxing champion.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Michael D. Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Micheál Martin Micheál Martin (; born 1 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who is serving as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs (Ireland), Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence (Ireland), Minister for Defence since Decembe ...

congratulated Harrington on her win, along with

Katie Taylor Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBA title since 2017; the IBF title since 2018; and the ...

and

Michael Carruth Michael Carruth (born 9 July 1967) is a southpaw Irish Olympic boxer from Dublin. He is best known for winning the welterweight gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He turned Pro in 1994 but retired in 2000. Amateur boxing ;Ol ...

Recognition

For

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

in 2022,

An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...

launched a stamp collection of Irish sports women which featured Harrington and others. Harrington was joint

grand marshal Grand marshal is a ceremonial, military rank, military, or political office of very high rank. The term has its origins with the word "marshal" with the first usage of the term "grand marshal" as a ceremonial title for certain religious orders. ...

with Ellen Keane at the Dublin St Patrick's Day parade on 17 March 2022. In 2022, she was awarded the

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

city.

Personal life

Harrington is from Dublin's north inner city and is a member of St. Mary's Boxing Club, Tallaght. At age 15, she developed an interest in boxing, and attempted to join the local boxing club, only to be told that they would not accept girls. But Harrington persisted, was eventually admitted, and made rapid progress in her boxing career. She has stated that she intends to return to her part-time cleaning job at St Vincent's Psychiatric Hospital in Dublin, regardless of her result at the Olympics. Harrington has been in a relationship with Mandy Loughlin since 2009 after meeting her through boxing. This made her one of at least 180 openly gay athletes at the 2020 Olympic games. They married in Dublin on 8 April 2022. In October 2022, Harrington released her autobiography called ''Kellie'' which was written with

Roddy Doyle Roddy Doyle (born 8 May 1958) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, eight books for children, seven plays and screenplays, and dozens of short stories. Several of his books have been ma ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrington, Kellie 1989 births AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships medalists Boxers at the 2019 European Games European Games medalists in boxing European Games silver medalists for Ireland Irish women boxers Irish LGBT sportspeople Light-welterweight boxers Lightweight boxers Living people Sportspeople from South Dublin (county) Olympic gold medalists for Ireland Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in boxing Boxers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Ireland