Michaela Walsh praises ‘phenomenal’ Irish boxing team ahead of Paris Olympics

Irish featherweight boxer Michaela Walsh has admitted she felt a sense of relief when she qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Belfast boxer booked her place in her second successive Olympics after winning a bronze medal in the European games in  Poland, in what was a successful tournament for Ireland.

In 2021, qualification came just before the Olympics for Walsh, which was delayed due to Covid-19. Speaking to BreakingNews.ie, Walsh admitted the thought of Olympic qualification was the main priority in the European games.

“It’s amazing, it’s relief in a way to have it done early. When I qualified for Tokyo, we were off straight away to Nagasaki for a training camp and then to Tokyo, so it felt kind of rushed.

“Now, I can just focus on getting better. I want to improve on every area of my boxing, so to have a year of improving and getting better on what I need to work on without worrying about qualifying, it’s just a big relief.

“I was trying not to put pressure on myself, if it was meant to be, it will be. There’s going to be another opportunity to qualify next year. I wasn’t focused on medals, I was solely focused on qualifying and performing to the best of my ability.

“I did all the little things right in the build up, I had a great training camp. If it was meant to be, it was meant to be, and at that time, it was meant to be.”

Michaela was one of three female boxers to book her ticket to Paris, alongside Kellie Harrington and Aoife O’Rourke, who won respective gold and bronze medals.

A sport where Ireland has thrived, women’s boxing is only entering its fourth Olympics, with Katie Taylor winning Gold for Ireland in 2012 in the first year of its inclusion.

Ireland’s success has continued, with Harrington winning Gold in 2020 Olympics, and Michaela has described the rise in standards in women’s boxing as phenomenal, as she aims to add her name to Irish sporting history.

“It’s phenomenal, I think the women’s boxing team is one of the best in the world. You could send the top one, two or three in any weight, and they would come back with a medal, the calibre is just so, so high.

“With Katie Taylor winning gold in London, it just kick-started it all. There was people like myself who were boxing at that time, but her winning at the Olympics showed it can be done.

“If you go to most clubs around Ireland at the minute, they are amazing. Even over at the Europeans, the schoolgirls are phenomenal, I would have been nowhere near that level at that age, it just shows you how good women’s boxing is, and it’s only going to get better.

“When you go away, a lot of people fear the Irish women, because they know they are in for a hard, hard fight. Every time the women’s team go away, they are producing, and it’s brilliant to see. For me, It’s amazing to be part of such a talented group of women.”

The Tokyo Olympics was a special occasion not just for Michaela herself, but also her brother Aidan, who claimed bronze in the men’s welterweight…