Ireland’s Olympic Boxing Team: A Triumph of Dedication and Grit

Walking in her farming duds, Wellies and leggings, Aoife heads toward an old white Toyota pickup. She drives to her dad’s house, picks up himself and a few fifty-pound bags of cow kibble. They make their rounds, in gates and down fields, to a few old bathtubs. Aoife gets out and dumps the bags into the tubs while dozens of cattle look on. An hour or so later, she is home, eating her own breakfast of yogurt, oats, banana slivers, and protein powder. Her next stop is a shed at the back of the house, to her homemade gym. She will do one of her training sessions there, lifting weights and running on an elliptical trainer.

All this work, ten years of it, is in the hopes of going to the Olympics to represent Ireland; ten years of training for a few nine-minute fights. She is not alone. This year, Ireland is sending a team of ten boxers, the largest team since 1960. Aoife O’Rourke will be representing Ireland, along with five other women and four men. When Olympic boxing begins on July 27, there will be an Irish woman competing in every weight class for the first time in history.

A weight class was added after the Tokyo Olympics, making a total of six classes. Kellie Harrington, Jennifer Lehane, Daina Moorehouse, Aoife O’Rourke, Grainne Walsh, and Micheala Walsh are the six women who will enter the ring in Paris, draped in the tri-color. They will be joined by four men: Dean Clancy, Jude Gallagher, Jack Marley, and Micheala’s brother,

Aidan Walsh. It is crazy to think that an island that can fit inside Ohio is sending ten athletes to compete in one sport.

It is easy to get turned around thinking about sports in Ireland. When an athlete makes a national team, it is certainly an accomplishment. But it can be hard to gauge talent. Are they great athletes or big fish in a small pond? Qualifying for the Olympics is definitive that you are one of the best in the world at your sport.

Katie Taylor

How and why did Ireland manage to come up with a team of six women who made the cut to be Olympians? In two words: Katie Taylor. When Katie took gold in the 2012 London Olympics, eyes were opened to the potential. And why not? Boxing is an easy sport to get started. You don’t need expensive facilities or equipment. Twelve years ago, small towns around the country used an empty building to create a boxing club. A ring, gloves, head covers, jump ropes, and bags are about all you need to train boxers. Since gyms are sparse in rural Ireland, my nieces trained in one of these clubs with no aim in mind other than working out.

It is up to the trainers, many of whom are former boxers, to spot talent. The two O’Rourke girls who are boxing are tall, strong women. Both have put in plenty of physical work on the farm. Somewhere in the working out, Aoife decided to get serious about boxing. It was a hard decision. Both of her parents were into sport, but boxing? But once she decided, boxing was her focus. Gone were the curry chips dashes, nights out at the disco, all the more normal fun. Aoife and her sister Lisa put in hours of daily training, as well as adding an incredible amount of discipline into their lives.

It is a complicated jenga from there, from the farm to the Olympics. Competitions begin locally. Successful athletes gain sponsorships that allow them to go overseas to the larger matches. In order to qualify, the athletes need to score a certain number of points in international competitions. Olympic-style boxing is not the bare-knuckle stereotype. It is more of a hyper-athletic dance. A match consists of three three-minute rounds. Five judges are watching and awarding points to the competitor who they think landed a successful hit. You might immediately guess that there is some disagreement within the judging, and there is. That is why there are five judges. This is not to say that this is not a tough sport, because it is. Boxing is insanely physical. The competitor only has their body, no ball or stick to manipulate. Because it is so personal and raw, the commitment feels huge. The fact that they are young women is another factor.

The first time that we watched Aoife fight, she came out with a bloody nose. It was awful. But she and her sister are committed. They never stop training. They never stop being disciplined. Another small island, Cuba, dominated boxing in the last Olympics in Tokyo. The significant factor in those Games was Covid. Aoife was at those Olympics. She was eliminated in her first competition, against a Chinese boxer.

COVID Olympics

I asked her about the Olympic village; she said that it was amazing, if you wanted to eat pizza at three in the morning while getting a manicure, it was going to happen. The bad part was, of course, Covid. The athletes weren’t allowed to fraternize at all. Everyone was afraid of getting sick and being eliminated from competition. She is so happy that she gets to go again. She wants to experience being at the Olympics without being afraid of getting sick. She is looking forward to meeting other athletes.

On the outside, we think of the competitive nature of these events. The girls are competing against each other, hitting each other, so it is easy to think that they don’t like each other. If you imagine the smack talk of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, you would be wrong. These women know that the person standing in the ring with them has made the same sacrifices and worked just as hard to be there as they have. They often hug each other after a bout decision.

By August 2nd, we will know the outcome. It seems absurd that years of work condenses into a performance that is going to last no more than minutes. And yet, the pressure is so intense. We aren’t talking about it. It is great that there is an end, at least in the short term. The young ladies who are boxing for Ireland are just that. They are beautiful, soft-spoken shy country girls. But that stops when the gloves go on. Then, the focus and strength are visible. If you thought that Barbie Summer was over, it is just beginning. The ladies are coming on strong! Just watch them!

The National Governing body for Boxing in Ireland is the IABA – Irish Athletic Boxing Association where you can find more information.