PARIS — Kellie Harrington beat Yang Wenlu of China by split decision Tuesday in the final of the lightweight category at the Paris Olympics to retain her crown and become the first Irish boxer to win back-to-back gold medals.
After clinching victory, Harrington said she was hanging up her gloves.
“The last hurrah, I’m done. I’ve always said I want to retire a champion, that’s it,” Harrington told Irish national broadcaster RTE.
“It just gives hope to all these young kids, all these teenagers (pointing at the crowd). It gives hope to the people of Ireland, but this one was for me.”
Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira and Taiwan’s Wu Shih-yi claimed the two bronze medals on offer after losing their semifinal bouts against Harrington and Yang, respectively.
Ex-world champion Harrington, who impressed in a convincing win over Tokyo silver medalist Ferreira in the semifinals, faced Yang in the light welterweight final at the 2016 World Championships in Kazakhstan.
On that occasion, the Chinese boxer won, but eight years later and fighting at a different weight, Harrington was a much tougher proposition.
She won the first two rounds with relative ease, gliding around the ring with her silky footwork and peppering her opponent with shots from range.
Perhaps hoping to sign off her amateur career with a bang, Harrington was less careful in the final round and adopted a more aggressive approach, which resulted in her losing the round, though the damage was already done for Yang.
A delighted Harrington, roared on by a sea of Irish fans at Court Philippe-Chatrier, embraced her coaches in her corner before falling to her knees in the ring and thumping the mat.
In the welterweight semifinals, Imane Khelif, the boxer at the center of a gender dispute, beat Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng by unanimous decision.
Khelif, bidding to become Algeria’s first gold medal-winning boxer since Hocine Soltani in 1996, faces Yang Liu of China in the final after the world champion eased to a 4-1 win over Taiwan’s Chen Nien-chin.
In Tuesday’s first bout, Uzbekistan’s Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev got off to a strong start against Omari Jones and survived an onslaught from the American in the final round to win the welterweight semi-final on a split decision.
In the final, Muydinkhujaev will face Marco Verde after the Mexican claimed a similarly close win over Britain’s Lewis Richardson.
“I’m happy, but I’m not satisfied, of course. We won (the semifinal), yeah, but that’s now in the past, so we have to concentrate on what’s coming,” Verde said.
“I have a bit left to do. I think it’s inspiration. I like to be inspired by people, people who fight their own battles in day-to-day life. They inspire me.”
Asian Games champion Wu Yu of China outclassed Uzbek Nazym Kyzaibay, twice a world champion, in a flyweight bout to move into the final, where she will take on Tokyo silver medalist Buse Naz Cakiroglu, who beat Aira Villegas of the Philippines by unanimous decision.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media