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'Absolutely buzzing' - Kellie Harrington's brother reacts to her Olympic victory

Team Ireland's Olympic medal haul has increased to four after boxer Kellie Harrington secured at ...
Jack Quann
Jack Quann

09.54 3 Aug 2021


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'Absolutely buzzing' - Kellie...

'Absolutely buzzing' - Kellie Harrington's brother reacts to her Olympic victory

Jack Quann
Jack Quann

09.54 3 Aug 2021


Share this article


Team Ireland's Olympic medal haul has increased to four after boxer Kellie Harrington secured at least a bronze in Tokyo.

The Dubliner will head into a semi-final on Thursday fighting for a silver medal.

She beat her Algerian opponent on Tuesday morning to make it to the final four of the women's lightweight division.

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Her semi-final will take place on Thursday against Sudaporn Seesondee of Thailand.

Ireland's rowers have already returned to the country with a gold and a bronze - while this latest medal brings the boxers' haul so far to at least two bronze.

Kellie Harrington's brother, Joel, told Newstalk Breakfast her win has brought a great boost to the local community.

"Buzzing, absolutely buzzing - kind of at a loss for words - but I suppose the way I'm feeling is tired more than anything.

"It's just fight by fight, I think that's the way Kellie's always took every tournament she's entered.

"I don't think this is any different for her - one thing I think she's keen to not do is look too far ahead.

"She's got a really tough fight next... I believe it's against the girl that she fought in the final of the World's in 2018 - so it's really tough fight."

Joel says the family would like to be in Japan to support her, but that there is not much they could do if they were there.

"We'd love to be there, but she's fine on her own; even if we were over there we wouldn't be around Kellie or anything like that.

"None of us in the family would talk too much to Kellie when she's competing, there's not really a lot we can say to her.

"She's a high performance athlete, so it's what she does and we just leave her to it."

And Joel says he spoke to his sister briefly after her last fight.

"I was talking to her briefly, I think she's just more or less tired after it - it was a fairly tough fight that she had.

"But yeah, she's over the moon and she's just buzzing.

"I think Kellie's main priority is bringing a bit of positivity to the area and it's certainly done that.

"The road and the area is absolutely bouncing this morning".

'Absolutely buzzing' - Kellie Harrington's brother reacts to her Olympic victory

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Main image: Kellie Harrington celebrates victory in her women's lightweight quarter-final bout against Imane Khelif of Algeria at the Kokugikan Arena during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in Japan. Picture by: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

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