Olympic gold medalist Kellie Harrington has achieved immense success in her boxing career and now is retired. During her career, she has had critical acclaim as the 2018 world champion and also by being a double Olympic gold medalist winning at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. She’s from Dublin’s north inner city and started her boxing at St Mary’s Boxing Club. She not only achieved brilliant success but also inspired women all around the world by joining boxing at 15 in a local boxing club where they were not accepting any women. 

Speaking of her personal life, she fell in love with Mandy Loughlin and they have been in a relationship since 2009 after meeting through boxing. Let’s get to know more about the couple and how they both met each other.

Meet Mandy Loughlin, Kellie Harrington’s partner

The duo decided to get married in Dublin on April 8th, 2022 and in October of the same year, Harrington decided to release her autobiography called Kellie which was written with Roddy Doyle. After winning the Paris Olympics this year she straight away ran to her wife first and this is what made the fans curious about their relationship and how they met. The Irish superstar beat China’s Wenlu Yang 4-1 at the Paris Olympics to gain the title that she had also won in Olympics 2020.

All 15,000 audience members were cheering her name as she rushed to her wife and hugged her. The 34-year-old is now the most successful Irish boxer in Ireland in the 100-year history of the games. Harrington and Loughlin have been together for almost 12 years and both met at boxing. The athlete’s wife is also a boxer, and she has competed as well as coached for many years and is still a boxing coach at Perpetua. Here, she teaches boxing and motivates people every day.

The story of how the duo met is very interesting, so let’s dive deep into it!

How did Mandy Loughlin and Kellie Harrington meet?

Ireland’s Golden Girl and her wife, who is changing the boxing scene behind the scenes, have been together through all the highs and lows. Their love story began many years ago in 2009 and they are still living their fairytale romance to this day. The couple met when they were both training at a club in Bray. The interesting thing is that they were both from opposite sides of the town, but distance was nothing when it came to love.

Loughlin told Ryan Tubridy a few years back: “We met there and clicked and the rest is history. There was an initial [vibe that they wouldn’t get along] the first time we met but after that we were grand. ‘I suppose it’s just such a difference – a north inner city girl and a southside girl might just not get on straight away but opposites attract and it was the best thing ever.”

Soon after the Olympics took place, the amateur boxer was not just thinking about the boxing ring, but another kind of ring as well. The Dubliner had confirmed that she was engaged to Loughlin in 2022. She even shared her stressful planning with the wedding and a long list of things to do. Harrington also gushed about her wife to Ryan Tubridy about how kind she is and has a sense of community and spirit. She said, “It’s so rare to find everything that Kellie has together. I don’t know how she has the energy to spread herself around in the things she does. It’s unbelievable…”

The couple had a very cozy and romantic wedding in April 2022 and they also were accompanied by their beloved dogs. They spent their marriage with the nearest and dearest ones in a reception held at the Old Spot in Dublin. They also later bought their first house in the same year at Portland Row and made it into a home. The couple is pretty active on social media and even shared photos of the renovations of the house.

After so many years of challenges and staying together through thick and thin, the couple saw another victory at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Kellie Harrington embraces her partner after historic Olympics victory

Harrington secured her place in the semi-final of the 2024 Olympics after defeating Colombian boxer Angie Valdas Pana. This match was not just any semi-final because she made history as the first-ever female Irish athlete to win back-to-back medals in the Olympics. After that, she took on Wenlu Yang in the finals and won the match which secured her a gold medal for Ireland.

The boxer immediately ran to her wife and hugged her tightly. She also announced her retirement following the match and said, “I just wanted to be happy, just wanted to smile, be happy and enjoy the last hurrah. I am done.” She also never turned professional and shared her reason in The Late Late Show.

Harrington said, “I’ve made the decision. I’m going to stay amateur… It’s not always about money. People are saying ‘You can make a fortune out of this, you could go for this fight or that fight’ but I just want to be an amateur. I’m very happy and supported by Sport Ireland. I have a great team there with the set-up.”

This is a beautiful end to her amazing career, and now she can concentrate completely on her family.