Kellie Harrington has waited a lifetime for the opportunity to perform on the biggest stage of all in amateur boxing.
Even though 16 Irish boxers had won Olympic medals before these Games none were able to earn their living on the basis of what they achieved in the Olympics. No wonder then that Harrington refuses to be defined by what happens in the majestic Kokugikan Arena during the next seven days.
If everything goes to plan the 31-year-old will be boxing for a gold medal next Sunday morning.
But Harrington too realises the significance of life outside the Olympic bubble. She works every second weekend in St Vincent’s Hospital in Fairview and made a point of referencing it in her post-fight interview after qualifying for the quarter-final.
“Look, this is a great achievement for me to be competing in the Olympic Games,” she said. “But if it happened, it happened because I’m more than just a boxer. I’m Kellie Harrington, I’m a giving person, I have a fantastic family and a great job at home. I just want to say hello to everyone in St Vincent’s Hospital. That’s who I am.
"This is just a part of me and a part of the journey I’m on in life, it’s not the destination. What I’ll do after this, I don’t know.
“I only work every second weekend so it’s grand to split my time. I feel like when you work in a job you love then you never work. That’s the way I look at it. To me it’s very social going into work.”
For Kellie, having a fulfilling life outside the ring is as important as pursuing silverware inside it. This sport-life balance is central to her wellbeing.
“Well, it works for me because at the end of the day nobody knows what boxing is going to do for them. So, you always need to have something outside of boxing. I’ve been saying this to a lot of people lately — you need to have a life outside of boxing because there is more to life than sport.
Anything can happen in sport and you need something to fall back on and my job is what I fall back on and when I get home from the Olympic Games
“I’ll be doing my restricted movements or whatever I have to do and then I’ll be straight back into work because that’s who I am as a person and that’s the way I roll.”
Harrington’s modesty and unassuming nature shines through in all her interviews. She never misses an opportunity to namecheck her club coach Noel Burke or her home club St Mary’s.
For the moment though her focus is on the quarter-finals of the lightweight division where she meets Imane Khelif from Algeria on Tuesday.
Her last 16 fight was being shown on a TV monitor in the mixed zone on Friday as Kellie spoke to reporters.
She declined to look at the screen, however. She trusts the coaching staff under the direction of Zaur Anita — her job is to follow the plan.
Her last 16 contest against the formidable Italian Rebecca Nicoli was a case in point. Both counter punchers stalked each other.
It was a question of who cracked first and engaged. It requires enormous discipline and self-belief to implement but Harrington did it to perfection. Every time the Italian went forward Harrington caught her.
Twenty-year-old British prospect Caroline Dubois meets Sudaporn Seesondee from Thailand. Both are in the top half of the draw along with Harrington and Khelif.
Harrington gave Dubois a boxing education when they clashed in the gold medal fight at the European Olympic qualifiers in Paris last month even if one of the judges scored the fight in favour of Dubois.
But Seesondee is a capable operator who fought Harrington in the gold medal fight at the 2018 World Championships. The Dubliner edged that. But the prospect of a repeat clash in the semi-final here on Thursday should not be discounted.
But for Harrington it is all about living in the moment. One suspects she hasn’t even contemplated the prospect of another clash with the veteran Finnish fighter Mira Potkonen, who beat Katie Taylor at the last Olympics.
Harrington’s priority is her quarter-final fight in the early hours of Tuesday morning. She experienced one of the most challenging years of her career after her victory at the 2018 World Championships.
Two hand injuries wiped out 2019 while Covid-19 did the same to 2020.
Everything was on the line in that resumed Olympic qualifier in Paris in June. But her patience was rewarded and she looked a class apart from the field.
She arrived in Japan for a pre-tournament training camp in Myasaka on June 30 and didn’t make her Olympic debut until July 30.
But now she is within touching distance of following in the footsteps of Taylor and winning at least an Olympic bronze medal.
Sporting-wise this is the most important seven days in her life. But in her own mind it is just another part of her journey through life.
Tokyo is not the ultimate destination. Whether she comes home with a gold medal or no medal it won’t change Kellie Harrington, proud daughter of Portland Row in Dublin’s north inner city.