Residents of Dublin’s Portland Row are becoming accustomed to the sight of gold. It is not just Kellie Harrington’s medal collection either – the history-making boxer has not yet made it home from her Olympic triumph in Paris.
In the meantime though, Dublin City Council has stepped in, not quite paving the street but painting its lamp-posts with the colour now synonymous with its most famous resident.
On Wednesday, mere hours after Harrington beat China’s Wenlu Yang to retain the crown she took three years ago in Tokyo, council painter Noel Wallace was outside her parent’s north inner city home rolling the gold on to its surrounding lamp-posts. It was the post box last time round, and the residents are getting used to such peculiar paint jobs.
“It just seems if you stand still long enough down on Portland Row you’ll be painted gold,” said local councillor Nial Ring of the frequency of such events.
“There’s still that air of disbelief [in the area]. Can we really believe that she’s done what she’s done? It’s just amazing.”
A busy city thoroughfare skirted by old terraced houses and council homes, Portland Row has become the focal point for Harrington’s success. She owns a house on the street and has become, in sync with her success and celebrity status, a community mainstay, organising regular children’s events in the area.
[ Kellie Harrington: 'The next chapter is going to be my life chapter'Opens in new window ]
The gold is fun but almost counter-intuitive in its representation of a woman known locally as a normal, down-to-earth Dubliner. When the festivities surrounding Ireland’s Olympic team die down, Harrington will likely get her own dedicated Portland Row reception.
“The celebrations were wild the last time but I actually think they are going to be bigger [now],” said Ring, “which suggests to me that people will actually grasp exactly what she’s done.”
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