IT was a night when the best was saved for last at the North Paris Arena as defending champion Kellie Harrington served up a masterclass en route to Tuesday’s Olympic final at Roland Garros.
The much-anticipated clash with Beatriz Ferreira, a repeat of the Tokyo final from three years ago, inadvertently ended up with top billing as the pre-ordained schedule saw it listed as the final fight of the night.
And it was in the last round when, with everything to play for, Harrington summoned something truly special – slipping and clipping a bamboozled ‘Beast’. The Brazilian’s head must have been spinning by the time the final bell sounded.
With that Clubber Lang energy she brings to the ring every time, Ferreira wanted revenge for Tokyo, but she lacked the panache to punish Harrington, who made lighter work of her opponent than in their only previous meeting.
“It feels fantastic to get that fight out of the way because Bea is a fantastic opponent and since Tokyo she’s gone on to do great things in the professional ranks.
“I felt like I was the underdog in there today and I knew she had a point to prove. All anyone’s been talking about is ‘you’re going to meet Beatriz’, but it might never have happened. But it has happened and thankfully it turned out the way it did.
“I felt very much in control. She’s a fantastic opponent, she’s class, like. I’ve no idea [if it was better than at Tokyo 2020] but I enjoyed it more than Tokyo, that’s for sure.
“I just feel happy and I think the happiness is because I’m coming to the end of the road and I just know there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”
And what better way to bow out of the international scene than to walk away as a double Olympic champion.
Late on Tuesday night, Harrington has the chance to do just that against China’s Wenlu Yang. The fact it will take place at Roland Garros, the Parisien home of clay court tennis, means nothing to her.
“I have no idea what it is or anything like that. To me it’ll just be another arena and another opponent and whatever will be, will be. I just want to be happy and stay happy.
“I genuinely feel confident in the coaches and what they’re telling me to do. Zaur [Antia] has been with me since day one, since I started my international journey. All the coaches are great but when me and Zaur work together it works.
“When I come out here and I am in the ring, I am happy. When I get into that ring I am allowed to be the craziest version of myself. It’s unbelievable. It’s the best feeling ever because nobody is judging me. Well maybe they are, I don’t know.
“But I just love that feeling. As much as I say I’m going to be retired, I don’t know what I am going to do as that feeling is going to be gone.”
As for her final opponent, Harrington’s only previous meeting with Yang was in the final of the 2016 World Championships at 64kg – the Chinese edged a tight call that day, but the Dubliner is a different animal eight years on.
“I remember it was very close - I remember I thought I got the decision back then.
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to get the decision whenever it is that I meet her or anything.
It just means that I’ll do what I have to do and she’s going to do what she has to do, and like I said, whatever will be, will be.
“I actually don’t know if I am [better now], that’s the truth. I just think I’m more mature, have a bit more physicality to me. She’s obviously got better too, I think.”
Tears flowed, there were hugs with Zaur and Tricia Heberle – it felt as though a weight of some kind had been lifted from her shoulders as she moves towards the last mile.
Even a question about the two female boxers at this Olympics who, the International Boxing Association (IBA) claim, previously failed gender eligibility tests, couldn’t throw Harrington off her stride. This was her night – and she wants just one more before the gloves, at this level anyway, are put away for good.
“I didn’t know anything about that and it’s nothing to do with me.
“I am just enjoying my moment, for me, this is the Kellie Harrington show. And that’s it.”
