Amy Broadhurst’s ‘heart hurts like never before’ after Olympics dream comes to agonising end following Team GB switch

AMY BROADHURST said her “heart hurts like never before” after seeing her dream of qualifying for the Olympics end.

The Dundalk native suffered a 4-1 defeat against Yeonji Oh of Korea in her 60kg quarter-final of the qualifiers in Thailand.

The 27-year-old has switched from Team Ireland to Great Britain to pursue her dream of finally competing at a Games.

However, it was not to be and, in an emotional statement on social media, Broadhurst said that that death had “slowly died out”.

She said: “My heart hurts like it’s never hurt before.

“There was a dream inside of me since I was a little girl and today that flame slowly died out.

“My whole life has all been about the Olympic Games, I made my life all about boxing and today I suffered my biggest blow.

“Some people might criticise my decision for switching allegiance, those people are probably sitting at home who wouldn’t have a pair of balls to do what I done.

“If everyone had any idea what I went thru for the past 12 months you would very well understand why I done what I done and in saying that I have no regrets at all about the decisions I’ve made.

“I give myself every opportunity I could to get to the Olympic Games but that wasn’t gods plan for me.

“I ticked every box in the book, I trained my a** off & I done everything correctly and I’m proud of myself.”

Broadhurst made the decision after being told she would not take part in a box-off for a place on the Ireland team for the final set of qualifiers in Thailand.

She was overlooked for the 60kg spot in Tokyo in favour of Kellie Harrington, who went on to win a gold medal.

The Dundalk-native moved up to super-lightweight in which she was crowned Commonwealth, European, and World champion in 2022.

Super-lightweight is not an Olympic category, so she moved up to welterweight only to be passed over for Grainne Walsh, who herself is one win away from Paris after victory on Friday.

Broadhurst added: “Since joining team GB I’ve been made feel at home.

“The way I was treated, the people who took me under their wing and done all they could for me & the boxers themselves made this decision worth it.

“These people brought back the love for boxing that I was missing and lit a fire in me that I haven’t felt for a long time!

“I haven’t been this happy in a long time and I’m very grateful for the people that I got to meet along this journey.

“They took a chance on me and believed in me and unfortunately i couldn’t return the favour.

“I’m taking some time from social media & from boxing now. But I would just like to thank everybody who supported me from Ireland 🇮🇪 & from GB.

“I would like to thank the GB coaches & staff for all their hard work and making me feel I belong.

“I’d like to thank the boxers who welcomed me with open arms and made this journey enjoyable.”