Olympic hero Kellie 'never gave up on her dream' says former opponent Cheyanne

At her base in Lebanon, where she is serving as a peacekeeper with the Defence Forces, Athlone's Cheyanne O'Neill was one of the countless thousands who drew inspiration from the performances of Kellie Harrington at the Tokyo Olympics.

But Cheyanne was much closer to Kellie's journey than most, having twice boxed her in the past, including at the 2016 64kg National Elite Final in Dublin, where she pushed the future Olympic champion all the way in a close contest.

The 24-year-old from Battery Heights was also acutely familiar with Mira Potkonen, having twice faced the Finnish boxer who beat Katie Taylor in Rio in 2016, and won bronze both there and in Tokyo.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent last Tuesday morning, Cheyanne paid tribute to Kellie Harrington both as a boxer and as a person.

"Kellie is a lovely person. The first time I boxed for Ireland was in 2013, which was the first time I met her. We were both boxing at the European Union tournament in Hungary.

"I was very nervous, very shaky, and Kellie really looked after me on that trip. I boxed an Italian girl and dropped her in the first round with a left hook. My nerves got the better of me, and I ended up panicking and losing the fight.

"That was just inexperience, but when I got out of the ring my heart was broken. We were nearly two weeks out in Hungary and, for the rest of the trip, Kellie looked after me.

"As a person, she never gave up on her dream and she always gave her time to look after the younger females coming up in the sport. What you see is what you get with Kellie."

When they faced each other at the 2106 national final (a bout which can be seen on YouTube) Cheyanne boxed well, causing some problems for the Dubliner before ultimately losing the four-round contest on points.

"It was a very close fight. At the time, to be honest, I thought I did enough in the later rounds to get the decision," said Cheyanne.

"I was still very young and very fresh into Elite level. Kellie just had that small bit more experience, but to me there wasn't much in the fight at all."

Cheyanne also boxed Mira Potkonen twice in Ireland and then watched her go on to win two bronze medals at the Olympics.

"It was a tough, but good, thing for me to see where I could be at, with the two of them medalling at the Olympics. I suppose there's the question of, what if I didn't take a break (from boxing), but you can't really dwell on the what-ifs.

"I went from fighting for Ireland, with the flag on my chest, to coming over here to Lebanon to keep the peace with the flag on my shoulder!

"But, looking back, I can see that I really was at the top of female boxing. To see the girls do so well at the Olympics is amazing, especially with the pandemic going on."

Cheyanne is part of the 6th Infantry Battalion, from Custume Barracks, which is the lead unit for the deployment of the 118th Infantry Battalion of the Irish Defence Forces serving in South Lebanon with UNIFIL.

She arrived there in early June and is due to return home at the beginning of December. After watching the successes of her former opponents, Harrington and Potkonen, she is keen to get back into the ring upon her return home.

"I'm training away out here, keeping the weight down and the fitness up, and hopefully when we get home in December we can nearly get straight back into the ring," she said.

"I know that the fire's still burning and it's probably burning bigger than ever now, after watching the girls at the top.

"I'm still a baby, at 24. To look at Kellie, she's 31, and she never gave up. She fell short so many times, but she had a big heart."

Cheyanne's coach at Athlone Boxing Club, Rory Parkes, said the success of Harrington and her fellow Irish boxing medallist Aidan Walsh was "great exposure" for the sport but the last 18 months had been very difficult because of the impact of Covid restrictions on training.

Rory is hopeful, however, that the Athlone club will be in a position to reopen and resume training next month.

"The club is keen to open its doors and let the children come back, because at the end of the day children need sport," he said.

"We are after missing out on nearly a year and a half of it now, where there have been no competitions, and people have missed that. It's great to get the exposure from the Olympics, and Kellie has been a great ambassador for boxing.

"She is a working-class woman, she comes from a working-class background, and it goes to show that if you have a goal, if you have motivation and desire, you can achieve whatever you want to achieve. That's what it comes down to," he said.