Walsh siblings Aidan and Michaela plus Jude Gallagher set for Paris Olympics with Team Ireland 'ready to contest at the highest possible level'

​The three Northern Ireland fighters – set for the men’s 71kg (Walsh), men’s 57kg (Gallagher) and women’s 57kg (Walsh) – will be joined by Kellie Harrington, Aoife O’Rourke, Daina Moorehouse, Dean Clancy, Grainne Walsh, Jennifer Lehane and Jack Marley in France.

Eighteen of Team Ireland’s 38 medals won across Olympic Games history have come from boxing – including Walsh’s men’s welterweight bronze at Tokyo.

Olympic Federation of Ireland chef de mission for Paris 2024, Gavin Noble, said at the official squad announcement: “We are very proud of our strong boxing history, and with this being our centenary year, we are delighted to confirm one of our biggest boxing teams.

“An immense amount of work has gone in behind the scenes by the IABA team to get these athletes to this level, and we would like to commend the work of the high performance team, as well as all the clubs and coaches who have contributed to our Olympic boxers.”

Performance director Tricia Heberle called Team Ireland “exceptional” and said: “The Olympic Games is the pinnacle of our sport.

"That we have qualified the largest boxing team since Rome of 1960, speaks not only to the strength of our High Performance programme, supported by the OFI, Sport Ireland and SportNI, but also to the quality of coaching in the clubs in which our Paris athletes began their boxing careers.

"Team Ireland is the only NOC in Europe to have qualified a full team of women, which is a remarkable achievement given that Paris 2024 is only the fourth Olympic cycle in which women may box.

"That our team includes two Tokyo medalists in Kellie Harrington and Aidan Walsh shows just how exceptional this group of athletes is.

"They are well prepared, they are focused on their key performance goals and they are ready to contest at the highest possible level.”