THIS Olympic Games have brought the full run of emotions from Zaur Antia.
The swinging arms and the swagger that come with victory, top lip curled up like a mafioso satisfied with his latest hit.
There has been the shoulder shrug when nothing more can be done; a gesture almost always accompanied by the words “this is boxing”.
Rage teetered on the brink a couple of times before exploding on the ring apron after Daina Moorehouse’s outrageous exit to French favourite Wassila Lkhadiri. Eyes bulging, sweat lashing, arms flailing – now in his fifth Olympics, it takes a lot to take Antia to this dark place.
And then there is relief. Saturday night, Kellie Harrington’s breathtaking dominance of Tokyo final opponent Beatriz ‘The Beast’ Ferreira, was all about relief; for all concerned.
Harrington had been slightly edgy all week, even after easing to victory over Italy’s Alessia Mesiano and Colombian Angie Valdes. As she walked from the ring on Saturday, she threw an arm around Antia and looked like she could collapse with joy.
It all came out during a ringside interview with the Olympic news channel, face crumpled, tears flowing. An animated Antia radiated relief too, constantly breaking conversation to say “I’m so happy, so happy”.
Perhaps because, from a team of 10 boxers and the expectation qualifying so many brought, eight fell at the first hurdle inside the North Paris Arena. That is not how this was supposed to go.
Going into Saturday night’s blockbuster, Harrington – the golden girl from three years ago – represented their last hope of pulling something from the fire, and ensuring an Irish boxer would grace the final stages at Roland Garros.
“Of course it’s very difficult - you can’t say they were robbed, that’s excuses culture.
“It doesn’t matter what happened, you have to be strong. This should make you more wise. This is what we did after, we didn’t fail, we came back after Tokyo. Here we should have had more but it’s okay, next time we’ll be better. We’ll try and improve a little.
“We have a young team, Daina is 21, Jennifer [Lehane], Jack Marley, Dean Clancy, Jude Gallagher, they are babies.”
Instead of dwelling on the travails of an otherwise tough tournament, however, Antia was blown away by what he had watched on Saturday night. Not surprise, or shock at Harrington’s performance, but pure pride and amazement at the level set.
“Performance was fantastic - she is a universal boxer, not many like her,” said the Georgian, “she can be southpaw, can be orthodox, she reads opponents very well, she is very vibrant, and instinct guides her brilliantly.
“Everything she did today, she practiced.”
Ferreira had come hunting revenge after leaving Tokyo with silver but, after battling to reverse the tide in the second round, she faced a Kellie Harrington masterclass in the third – the Dubliner using ever inch of the ring canvas to poke and prod the Brazilian bear, at times leaving her utterly bewildered.
It was, to Antia’s mind, an even more dominant performance than in the Olympic final.
“I think it was better. There [in Tokyo], she lost the first round, today she won. That girl is a professional champion, but amateur is different.
“Kellie is very fast, she has good speed. For today we used her speed and changed styles.
Very difficult [for Ferreira], you decide to attack, you have some combination and she’s southpaw. Then you decide something and she’s orthodox again!
“The coaches are confused. That’s why she is who she is. I’m so happy, very happy… did you see what happened there? I thought the second round was the same as the first.
“But the last round, because she land many punches, opponent was frustrated. And she sidestepped. When you’re missing, when you try to attack and your opponent is on the left side, then you turn left and your opponent is on the right, it’s very tiring, it’s very difficult.
“That’s why I am so happy. Now one more. Just one chance, just one chance we have.”
Throughout this Games, Harrington has been at pains to remind everybody that the clock is ticking.
“I can see the light at the end of the tunnel…”
After Tuesday night’s decider at the home of French tennis, regardless of result, she will walk away from the international stage. Slán, goodbye, au revoir.
To do so as a double Olympic champion so late in her career would be scarecely believable for a woman forced to wait in the wings for a decade while Katie Taylor held down the lightweight spot.
Standing in her way at Roland Garros is Yang Wenlu – the Chinese woman who just edged out the 34-year-old in their own previous meeting, up at 64kg, in the final of the 2016 World Championships.
Harrington says she isn’t sure whether she is better now than the, but Antia has no doubt.
“I think so. Of course, she’s the Olympic champion, the Chinese girl is not. She’s a world champion, a European champion, and now one more chance. How many years of experience has she now? And that experience works.
“Chinese girl is a good girl. They met each other before, it was a very close fight. Kellie didn’t have too much experience and she lost but it was very close. After that, she changed lots of things.
“Look, this is excellent. We’ll try but this is not over yet. We enjoy today. Tomorrow she will rest and then we’ll sit down and we’ll pay a lot of attention to get as much clarity as possible. Behind all this, a big job happens.
“If you see how focussed she was, how she controls the fight, she’s unusual. I’m so happy to have her, and to spend my time coaching her.”
