‘Two to go’: Garside’s eyes on a bigger prize after historic win
For the first time in 33 years, an Australian will leave the Olympics with a medal.
Harry Garside won his lightweight (57-63kg) quarter-final clash against Kazakhstan’s Zakir Safiullin in a split decision, ensuring he will leave Tokyo with at least a bronze. However, the 24 year old has a bigger prize on his mind, screaming “Two to go” after emerging victorious in a fight that would have been difficult to score.
Harry Garside connects with a right hand against Kazakhstan’s Zakir Safiullin.Credit:AP
Safiullin won the first round and Garside the second, the result coming down to the third and final three minutes. Both fighters were tentative, rarely engaging in the decider, and both raising their arms in victory as the decision went to the judges. The verdict came back in favour of the Garside’s blue corner.
His reward will be a clash with two-time Cuban world champion Andy Cruz on Friday afternoon.
Ten years younger than an opponent he has never fought or sparred against, Garside took several minutes to work him out. Garside landed the best punches of the fight in the second round and both rarely connected in the third.
Garside has all the makings of a cult hero. The 24 year old works as a plumber to supplement his income, incorporates ballet into his training regime and has a mullet to match that of rising track star Rohan Browning.
He took up the sport at the age of nine, but it was an inauspicious start, losing 10 of his first 18 fights. He has been rewarded with his perseverance, first with a Commonwealth Games gold medal and now the guarantee of the Olympic variety, perhaps even a gold.
The last Australian to medal at the Olympics was Grahame “Spike” Cheney, who took home silver from the 1988 Seoul Games. All up, Australia has won just four Olympic gold medals.
It has been a difficult campaign for the Australian boxing team. One of the squad’s brightest medal hopes, Justis Huni, had to pull out with hand injuries he exacerbated during his defeat of former footballer Paul Gallen.
Featherweight Skye Nicholson came agonisingly close to progressing to the medal rounds, only to suffer a controversial split-decision loss at the quarter-final stage. Compatriot Paulo Aokuso lost in the same manner in his round-of-16 light-heavyweight encounter.
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