Boxing has always been about belonging for Australian boxer Harry Garside.
He was the skinny little kid desperate to impress his big brothers and his dad. The nine year old who found brotherhood in the boxing gym. The teenager, bonding with champion Australian athletes from all sports during his time at the AIS.
Heading into his second Olympics, Garside’s keen to upgrade from his bronze in Tokyo 2020 to gold in Paris 2024. He’s fired up now but says at first, he was hesitant.
He’s reflected on the state of mind that took him to his Tokyo 2020 bronze medal for lightweight boxing:
“I fed this little beast inside of me… this insecure little boy that wanted nothing more than that Olympic gold medal because he thought then he’d feel good enough.”
The difference is, this time Harry has tapped back into the lessons he learned from his childhood heroes.
“I reconnected to that young boy who was inspired by Grant Hackett… who was inspired by Matthew Mitcham.”
The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games men's 60kg division gold medal winner chats with former Australian water polo player and Olympian Rowie Webster about finding self belief, how adding ballet to his weekly training schedule has helped him fine tune his body for boxing, and taking his boxing heroes into the ring with him in Paris via his leg tattoos.
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