Aidan Walsh took a bittersweet bronze medal home from Tokyo 2020 this morning, but the first person he praised in his interview was his sister Michaela.
Walsh took home a bronze medal from the welterweight division at the Olympics, but an ankle injury sustained in the aftermath of his quarter-final prevented him from chasing further silverware.
Aidan Walsh Praises Sister Michaela
Aidan Walsh with his welterweight bronze medal from Tokyo 2020. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Michaela was knocked out in the opening round of the women's featherweight division, but the scenes of her cheering on her brother from the stands became an endearing image of Tokyo 2020.
In the aftermath of receiving his medal this morning, Aidan Walsh said he would share the bronze with Michaela, and stated that he was proud of the achievements of the Walsh family at the Olympics.
That's for all my family back home - my parents, my girlfriend, everyone who suffered so much. So...unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. My coaches, my club, all the high-performance coaches, everyone who's taken the time out of their lives at one stage in their life to help me get here. It's unbelievable.
It's sad that I'm not doing it alongside my sister, but I'll be cutting this medal in half for my sister. I know she deserves it as much as I do and I've just been extremely lucky and extremely blessed to be standing here with an Olympic medal.
It's incredible to qualify alongside my sister. Alongside the whole team, it's an amazing team, amazing staff - we're all here to win a medal, so you feel it obviously. But I just feel so lucky and so blessed and grateful to even be standing here, seriously, but to do it alongside my sister is another blessing that surpasses it all.
Ireland's bronze medal-winning boxer Aidan Walsh confirms that he has fractured his ankle, and vows to return another day to get a better spot on the podium. #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/TTMkDCnRra
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 3, 2021
Michaela reciprocated the family love with a heartfelt post on Twitter after Aidan received his medal.
From a kid becoming an Irish champion to a man becoming an Olympic medalist, the love stays the same forever brother ❤️ pic.twitter.com/tgGkbYB8A2
— Michaela Walsh (@michaelaw57) August 3, 2021
Walsh received his medal on crutches due to the ankle injury he sustained while celebrating his quarter-final win. He confirmed to RTÉ that he had fractured his ankle, but didn't let that cloud his joy at a medal win.
It's fractured, but it's the kind of thing where I'm standing here as an Olympic bronze medalist and it's just amazing. I'm just so, so, so grateful to every person standing here watching this on TV and watching me as an Olympic bronze medalist.
It's one of them things, it's something that I've dreamed of since I was a kid and I've dreamt of that moment of when I secured a medal. It's such an historic moment for me and it's amazing obviously to be coming away with a bronze medal. I only came on to the high performance two or three years ago and I'm a European medalist and I'm an Olympic medalist.
It's been a bittersweet Olympics for the Walsh family, but a bronze medal for Aidan has him and Michaela overjoyed. There's no doubting that greater success is to come in the future, and here's hoping we'll see the Walshes back again in Paris in three years time.
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