Kellie Harrington cries tears of joy after hero’s welcome on return to Dublin

Ireland’s double Olympic champion Kellie Harrington has cried tears of joy as she returned home to Dublin after her success in Paris.

Harrington cruised through the women’s lightweight final against Wenlu Yang to retain her Olympic title on Tuesday last week.

The success made her the only Irish boxer to contest and win back-to-back Olympic finals.

The 34-year-old, who said she would “retire a champion” after Paris, won her first gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

She is also the first Irish woman to win medals at two Olympic Games.

At a homecoming event in Dublin’s north inner city on Tuesday, Harrington was greeted with cheers and requests for selfies as she proudly strolled through her home neighbourhood.

Wearing her two gold medals, she wiped away tears of joy as she waved to the crowd.

Children wrapped themselves in Irish tricolours as they roared the name of the Olympic champion who grew up in nearby Portland Row.

Accompanied by Dublin Fire Brigade’s pipe band, she travelled down Sean McDermott Street from Diamond Park towards the Five Lamps landmark.

The two-time Olympic champion greeted fans as she took the stage at Killarney Street where the Dubliner danced on stage with singer Gemma Dunleavy as hundreds of people packed into a residential street to catch a glimpse of their hero.

Addressing her neighbours and fans, Harrington said: “This just means the world to me.

“I just want to say thank you to absolutely every one of you for all the support.

“I just hope that all the kids, teenagers and young adults have seen that hard work and dedication, the highs and the many lows – it gives you the heart and the grit to understand that we can do anything we set our minds to.

“But you have to work for it, and you have