Lightweight (57-60 kilograms), Women

Kellie Harrington of Ireland, who combined her boxing career with a job as a cleaner at a Dublin psychiatric hospital, had been World Champion in 2018 but had missed the 2019 version of the championships with a thumb injury. Nevertheless, she was the top seed ahead of South Korea’s Oh Yeon-Ji and the woman who had followed her as World Champion, Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira.

The story of the early stages was the elimination of Oh by the Finnish super-veteran Mira Potkonen. The Finn was the first boxer to compete at the Olympics at age 40 since 1976 and was the second oldest of all-time. She was eventually eliminated by Ferreira in the semi-finals but went home with one of Finland’s only two medals of the entire Games.

The other semi-final was a re-match from the 2018 World Championship final between Harrington and Thai Navy Lieutenant Sudaporn Seesondee. Both women fought with great caution throughout and it was with great relief that the Irish woman accepted the 3-2 split decision of the judges.

The Harrington-Ferreira final started well for the Brazilian as her aggression seemed to carry the first round but, as the fight went on, the Irish fighter began to land the showier punches and rocked her opponent on more than one occasion.

As they awaited the judges’ verdict there was still doubt as to the decision but Harrington was announced as the winner for her performance over the second half of the fight. The Dubliner matched the achievement of Michael Carruth from 1992 and Katie Taylor from 2012.