‘How embarrassing’: Sad truth behind iconic Aussie Paris Olympics photo

Harry Garside featured in one of the most memorable photos of the Olympics, but the Aussie boxer has revealed a sad truth.

Harry Garside has likened his Paris Olympics performance to the embarrassment of a kid not being picked at sport.

After winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo games, the 27-year-old went into the Paris event speaking of his passion to become the first Australian to win an Olympic gold in boxing.

“I just felt like there was a young kid inside of myself,” Garside said on the latest episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast.

Harry Garside vs Richard Kovacs of Hungary. Harry Garside lands a punch on the nose of Richard Kovacs. Pic: Michael Klein.

“You know what it’s like to feel embarrassed … some people don’t get picked or they get picked last in sport when they were younger.

“There’s been some moments where absolutely I’ve been sad.”

Garside secured his place in the Paris Olympics after winning gold at the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara.

Competing in the 63.5kg class, he lost in his first fight to Hungarian Richard Kovacs, who went on to be eliminated in the quarter finals.

One photo of the devastated boxer breaking down behind the scenes after the fight went viral during the Paris Games.

Harry Garside's sad photo went viral.

He was one of Australia’s more colourful and high profile athletes going into the games.

“I was just embarrassed that I put myself out there after having success at the Tokyo Olympics,” he explained.

“I’m just trying to hold that young kid. There’s times it was like, ‘how embarrassing’ and that young kid is valid to feel that.”

He referenced late US President Theodore Roosevelt quote about shooting for the “stars and you always grow into a bigger, better version of yourself if you set big audacious goals and you don’t play it safe”

Aussie boxing cult hero Harry Garside Olympic dream has been shattered in nine minutes. Picture: Instagram

Harry Garside during his bout. Pic: Michael Klein

The Paris result came as a massive blow to Garside, who felt many expected him to fail in the sport.

“For most of my life, my parents thought I’d never make something of this and my friends thought that I was sort of pissing in the wind, I would never make something of this.

“Tokyo was probably the turning point that people started believing it.

“And then I brought everyone on that journey and then to a fall like that … that’s embarrassing for me.”

It took Garside two months to go back to the gym after Paris.

Now, he has found that excitement for boxing again but whether or not he has another Olympics crack is still up in the air.

“There’s still this hunger inside my belly for boxing for sure, but I just don’t what direction to walk in,” said Garside, the face of a new fragrance from Chemist Warehouse titled Crew, which has three scents targeting “him, her and us”.

Garside will next compete on Dancing With The Stars. Picture: Richard Dobson.

“I said to myself post Olympics that I refuse to go to a boxing gym. until I wanted to. It took me … maybe just over two months and then there was that hunger.

“I started it for love. I started it for passion. I fell in love with the sport. I fell in love with my coach. I fell in love with the identity it gave me. I fell love with so many things about it. And I love that I’ve got that back.

“If I don’t fight again, as long as I have that and I just go to the boxing gym and it’s fun. If I fight again, great, I love to fight too but just doing it for the right reasons.”

* A new episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast is released each Tuesday.

Originally published as ‘How embarrassing’: Sad truth behind iconic Aussie Paris Olympics photo