CONFIRMATION that next month’s World Championships has been postponed until March might have come as a blow to most Turkey-bound boxers – but for Kellie Harrington the news was “a blessing in disguise”.
Harrington hasn’t been back in the ring since defeating Brazilian Beatriz Ferreira to claim lightweight gold at the Tokyo Olympics back in August. However, with the Worlds scheduled for December 6-19, she had resumed training with a view to ending that hiatus and getting back to what she does best.
As a result of teams finding it difficult to compete due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Worlds – which offers $100,000 for gold medallists – were put back until next spring.
And that will afford Harrington more time to get back up to speed after her exploits during the summer, having found herself “run down” after attempting to do too much in too short a space of time.
“Sometimes athletes make stupid decisions and do stupid things and I came back knowing the World Championships were in December,” she said.
“After having a break, you get to the top, you’re coming down slowly, slowly, slowly, and then I suppose I was coming down and halfway down I decided, oh my God, the Worlds are so soon, and I went back in and went back to where I finished, where I thought I could start.
“That was a stupid mistake on my end. I got a little run down, I started to get cold sores and that’s when I know I’m run down. The coaches called me in and were like ‘Kellie, you can’t just come back and finish where you left off, you have to slowly come back up’.
“With the Worlds being cancelled, it was a blessing in disguise.”
Harrington is hoping she will be involved in a multi-nations tournament ahead of the World Championships as she eases her way back into the international area.
Now craving a return to routine, though, the Dubliner knows that, with her 32nd birthday only a matter of weeks away, she has to listen to her body and build back properly.
“When you look back at 2021, we had a very big year with the qualifiers, then ran straight back into the actual Olympics.
“And I'm not getting any younger, it does take time to recover, so it was kind of welcome.
But come January, if I didn't have a goal or a plan that would be very hard for a sportsperson because you constantly need something.
“I just wanted normality again, just to get back out and prepare for competition. I wasn’t thinking of going out and winning them, by any means. If I won them, it would have been fantastic, because there was 92 grand or something like that on offer - that would have been nice pocket change, wha?
“I was more thinking of getting back into routine, getting back out there, getting back into competition, just the buzz of it, the hunger of it again... that’s what I was feeling. That will all come all in good time.
“I need goals to try and keep me motivated. If you haven't got them then you're questioning everything really, and I have the coaches' heads melted because I keep asking them 'what's next, what's next, what are we doing?'
“Throughout Covid I had them absolutely exhausted with all my questions because I just wanted to know what's next, where are we going, what are you doing for us, how are you going to sort this or that out?
“They didn't even know themselves and I was the one pushing all the time… I suppose it was worth all that pushing in the end.
“With boxing, plans are very hard to get. We're kind of going day to day, week to week, but as it stands the big ones are March for the World Championships and I think June or July for the European Championships then.
“So there's two big ones next year.”
Harrington’s Irish team-mate Kurt Walker became the first of the Tokyo 2020 crew to turn professional when he inked a promotional deal with Top Rank last week – and she believes the Lisburn man can go far in the paid ranks.
“Kurt was very unlucky not to medal in Tokyo - he had a really great Olympic Games.
“We kind of knew he was going to turn professional. I think he's going to do absolutely great things, and it is a great loss to Irish boxing that he has gone, no question. We’ll miss having him around because he's a bit of craic as well.
“I loved having him there because you learned so much from him, he's absolutely class but I’m happy to see he's doing something different and he will benefit out of it.
“He has a lovely fiancee and a young daughter now as well so people have to evaluate their situation and where the money is coming in. He's done what is right for him."
