Amy Broadhurst saw her childhood dream come to fruition by claiming a gold medal at the Women's World Championships in Istanbul and she admits that she's still coming to terms with her success.
Broadhurst got the better of Algeria's Imane Khelif in Thursday’s light welterweight final, putting on a masterclass of boxing and movement to win via a unanimous decision for what is a life-changing victory.
As well as the gold medal, Broadhurst takes home €94,400 ($100,000) in prize money and is guaranteed funding of €40,000 from Sport Ireland next year as she builds toward the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, the 25-year-old said that her gold medal triumph was the culmination of a lifetime of hard work and admitted that it’s going to take a while to sink in.
"It’s taken a long road to get here, it’s been 20 years of my life that’s actually got me here," she said.
"I’ve had European medals and that before but all I’ve wanted was a world medal and to get a world gold is unbelievable.
"I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, I don’t think it will sink in until I’m at home on my own and I’m actually just thinking of what I’ve achieved.
"I just knew from when I was a little girl this is what I wanted to do and even yesterday before I came out for my fight, I thought to myself 20 years ago I started boxing and this is what I’ve been dreaming of since I was that age. So it was a case of 'go and grab it’."
Ireland's new boxing world champions Amy Broadhurst and Lisa O'Rourke will arrive home tomorrow. @amybroadhurst12 told @morningireland today that her childhood dreams had come true. pic.twitter.com/T6iC3ZTloN
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) May 20, 2022
"It’s amazing, my phone has been hopping and I’ve seen the support been getting, especially from Dundalk.
"The whole town has seen me over the years, just push and push for these sort of results and the fact that I’m returning to Dundalk as a world champion, it doesn’t feel real, it’s madness."
In analysing the fight against Khelif, Broadhurst paid tribute to her coaching staff for all their preparation work and credited them with the coming up with the tactics that helped her to gold.
"The first round was very, very close I thought, I couldn't have called it and the scoring was right I thought, it was 3-2," she said.
"But even though it was so close in the first round I enjoyed every second of it and as the fight went on, I just grew into the fight and became more comfortable. The tactics that the coaches had for me were spot-on, they worked perfectly.
"I think the day before against Parveen Hooda I wasn’t really switched on and, to be honest, I probably didn’t listen too much.
"Yesterday I was fully switched on and I listened to everything that was said to me."
Broadhurst follows in the footsteps of Irish boxing greats Katie Taylor and Kellie Harrington and thanked both Olympic gold medallists for helping her to prepare for the World Championships.
The Dundalk woman trained with Taylor and Harrington in the build-up to the competition and she believes that the confidence she gained from doing so gave her an extra edge.
"I’ve put my name up there. I’ve always had people telling me 'you’re one of the best in the world' and I have people around me see just how good I am, but I didn’t believe it myself.
"Over the last three months with sparring with Katie and getting the confidence from her and sparring with Kellie as well has lifted my confidence a lot.
"This is the first competition I’ve come into fully believing in myself that I could win a gold medal. It’s amazing what believing in yourself can do."
Broadhurst’s father Tony was also speaking to Morning Ireland and said that his daughter’s achievement was "very difficult to put into words".
"It’s all emotions. It was absolutely fantastic. It was a dream that became reality," he said
He added: "Where could you write it? You’ve not only got Amy in the final, but Lisa O’Rourke also, and for Ireland to have two world champions on the same day in the same tournament has never been achieved before.
"My three boys. They’re all older than Amy. They won medals also. But they didn’t love boxing the way Amy did.
"Amy fell in love with boxing at five years old and for 20 years, all she lives and breathes is boxing,"
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