Kellie Harrington’s gold medal win at the Tokyo Olympics presents the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) with unique challenges and opportunities.

How they react to them will determine the legacy of her magnificent win.

The Covid-19 crisis has done untold damage to the fabric of Irish boxing at grass roots level with all club activity and competitions grinding to a halt for more than a year.

The majority of clubs are struggling financially with many facing an uncertain future including the loss of their premises.

Against this background the organisation has been at war with itself.

The Board of Directors are hopelessly split and there are divisions too within the organisation’s Central Council – they run grass roots boxing on a day-to-day basis.

The Leinster, Connacht and Dublin County Board recently withdrew their support from the Council.

There are a myriad of issues causing divisions, though the success of the boxers in Tokyo may paper over the cracks at least in the short term.

It ought not to be forgotten that as well as the medal winning performances of Kellie Harrington and Aidan Walsh, four other members of the team, Brendan Irvine, Kurt Walker, Michaela Walsh and Aoife O’Rourke were all beaten by fighters who finished up winning medals.

Bernard Dunne, the head of the High-Performance Unit, was also sucked into the machinations which has left the Board of Directors riven with division particularly during the last 18 months.

There was a protracted row earlier this year over whether Dunne’s contract should be extended until after the Paris Games or terminated after the Tokyo Olympics.

Eventually Dunne was offered a two-year extension which would have meant a review before the Paris Games. It is not known whether he has accepted this offer. But he is now in a better negotiating position than ever before.

"I can accept that and deal with that and I have big enough shoulders to take it on,” he said.

Kellie Harrington pointed out that there is no shortage of talented female fighters in Ireland who are capable of emulating her achievements at future Games.

But some of the most talented underage fighters are caught in no man’s land.

In order to make the breakthrough as Harrington did, they have to train full time. But they are not entitled to any funding so basically, they are expected to give up work or college and box for free until they achieve success at international level.

It is a Catch 22 situation. Harrington to her credit managed to overcome similar obstacles. But talented fighters will drift away from the sport unless this issue is address by Sport Ireland.

Financially the IABA are in a weak position and depend on Sport Ireland for the bulk of their funding.

Now is the time to strike. In Kellie Harrington they have the most marketable product in Irish sport.

One wonders will the IABA have enough foresight and initiative to host an exhibition involving our Olympic team in the National Stadium next month and take the fighters on a short tour of the country.

They have just been handed the perfect promotional opportunity to relaunch the sport.

Let’s hope that they can park their internal bickering and grab this chance. It is the least Kellie Harrington deserves.