Olympic boxing hero Kellie Harrington has insisted it’s not all about money as she has been bombarded with offers for sponsors and deals.
The Olympic gold medallist admitted there has been a lot of offers rolling in but she is not thinking about sponsors as she weighs up the next move in her career.
She said: “Obviously there are offers coming in but I'm just taking some time.
“For me it's not all about money. It's about achieving what I set out to do and I've always wanted to lift my community and bring my community together."
Harrington said the highlight of her victory at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was seeing her community come together to support her.
She added: “The community is all together, neighbours who don’t even know they’re neighbours and people who haven’t seen each other in years are out hugging each other.
“Covid has had people afraid to come out of their houses but yet on the morning of my final they were all out on the streets jumping for joy and they were crying tears of happiness."
Speaking on FM104’s Strawberry Alarm Clock, the 31-year-old Dubliner said the community spirit from her home in Portland Row is “worth more than any gold medal.”
She said: “People have been saying to me ‘your community is brilliant’ and I've been saying this for years so I'm glad people are getting to see how good of a community they are and how great they are.
“To lift the spirits of a community and of a nation, that’s stuff that money can’t buy. That’s worth its own weight in gold."
The FBD ambassador also urged the government to put more funding into boxing to provide better facilities for the sport, adding: "Boxing is one of the worst hit sports because of Covid because it's a contact sport.
“Now it's time where you want the clubs to be open because you want to get all those kids and teenagers through the doors.
“If you don't have proper facilities then you can’t take these people in so I'm hoping the government will put more funding into boxing because it doesn't get the funding it deserves.
“So hopefully we get more funding, not just into boxing but into the local youth community hall,” she said.
Harrington noted that roughly half the Olympic gold medals that Ireland have are from boxing.
She also advised younger athletes not to focus on the awards and glory but to engage in sport because they love it.
“You don’t have to be an Olympic champion or an Irish champion, you just have to do what makes you happy and don’t let anything stop you," she said.
“I've picked up injuries, I've had losses. They don’t define you, if anything they make you grow."
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