Kellie Harrington named Sportswoman of the Year
Irish Olympic boxer Kellie Harrington has been named The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year 2024. The two-time Olympic gold medal boxer saw off competition from rivals such as Rachael Blackmore and Rhasidat Adeleke.
The Dubliner won her second gold medal in Paris after defeating China's Wenlu Yang in August, on an historic night at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris. It made Harrington the first Irish boxer to win two gold Olympic medals.
Harrington, who celebrated her 35th birthday just over a week ago, also joins a select group of Irish athletes who have successfully defended an Olympic title.
Speaking at the awards ceremony in Dublin on Friday afternoon, Harrington said: “Sometimes you have to have the lows to come back to the top, throughout the last year, people think you win the Olympics you live a glorious life, it ain’t that.
"It’s really tough at the top. You have the target on your back, everybody wants to take your spot. It’s really hard when you climb that mountain to come back down and climb it again. People think I might be mad, but it is who I am and that’s what made me a double Olympic champion!”
The Team of the Year award went to Ireland's paralympic cyclists.
Katie-George Dunlevy, Ireland’s most decorated Irish Paralympic athlete, and her pilots Linda Kelly and Eve McCrystal claimed the Team of the Year Award for their outstanding achievements at the Paralympics and World Championships this year.
In an amazing year Dunlevy amassed five Paralympic and World Championship medals. In Paris, she won a gold and silver with new pilot Kelly as well as a silver with long time partner McCrystal before going on to win two gold at the World Championships in Zurich with Kelly.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Awards, and it is the second time Harrington has claimed the overall Sportswoman of the Year title. The first one came back in 2018 after she claimed the lightweight title at the World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.
The Sports Editor of The Irish Times Noel O’Reilly paid tribute to all the 2024 winners. “Twenty years ago, when the Sportswoman of the Year awards were launched, we could scarcely have imagined how high the bar would be raised. Each year soaring new standards continue to be set by Irish sportswomen, inspiring and challenging those who will come after them."