Boxer Harry Garside on fear, anxiety, Dancing With the Stars and letting his Olympic dream go

After his nightmare at last year’s Paris Olympics, boxer Harry Garside reveals how close he came to walking away from the sport – and what changed his mind.

If it wasn’t for Dancing With the Stars, champion boxer Harry Garside might never have returned to the ring.

When the opportunity presented itself to appear on the long-running ballroom dancing reality show, the Victorian pugilist was still coming to terms with his disappointment at last year’s Paris Olympic Games. After Gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Garside’s dreams of a place at the top of the podium in the City of Light came to an abrupt halt when he was eliminated in the round of 16.

His devastation was painful to watch at the post-bout press conference where he apologised for what he saw as letting Australia and himself down – and predicted he would have some dark days ahead. Though he made a successful return to the sport last month, with a TKO against Queenslander Charlie Bell in just his fourth professional fight, he says he very nearly quit boxing for good.

Harry Garide. Pictures: No Limit Boxing/Gregg Porteous

“I got very close,” he says. “At the back end of last year, I would say I was almost certain at times to walk away and focus on other things.”

He says his long-held belief that he was “a strong and capable human” had been seriously shaken, firstly by his former girlfriend pleading guilty to 2023 charges of domestic violence related assault and stalking against him and then by the Paris performance that failed to live up to his own high standards.

Boxer Harry Garside, right, with his dancing partner Siobhan Power on Dancing With the Stars. Picture: Seven

“Obviously 2023 wasn’t an amazing year,” he says. “2024 with the Olympics wasn’t an amazing year for myself performance-wise and I just think I lost a bit of respect for myself, and I lost that thing inside myself that thought he was capable.

“Dancing With the Stars really made me realise that I needed to get back in the arena, whatever arena that is, and build that confidence back for myself because I really liked that about myself prior to 2021 and 2022.

“I’m quite spiritual but I think the universe works in a mysterious way and I think this show needed to happen. I needed to do it at that time.”

That’s not to say he wasn’t terrified at the prospect of ballroom dancing in front of a crowd of strangers, being judged for his skills and having the whole spangly circus broadcast to the nation. Even as a mental health champion who has spoken openly of his own “head noise”, low-self-esteem and suicidal thoughts – not to mention an athlete who punches other people in the head for a living – he says it “was probably the most nervous state that I’ve been in my whole entire life”.

“I do combat, which for most people would probably be one of the most uncomfortable states that they would go in and I felt like a little boy boxing for the first time,” he says. “I was taken back to when I was 12 or 13, feeling all this fear and anxiety and being on show in front of everyone and falling over and it was quite amazing to feel all that and then also still get out there and have a dance and have a crack.”

Garside credits his dancing partner Siobhan Power for keeping him “balanced and grounded” from the get-go. Her professionalism, knowledge and attitude – and the fact that they laughed more than was probably helpful for the gruelling preparation process – helped him rediscover his sense of joy after that dark period.

Boxer Harry Garside and Siobhan Power on the first episode of Dancing With the Stars.

“Me and Siobhan had so much fun in the process of what we did,” Garside says. “It was just nice to feel like a little kid again, feeling passionate about something and actually just being in joy, which is something that I think sometimes us adults take for granted.”

It also helped that there are plenty of similarities between boxing and dancing in terms of fitness, footwork and learning steps and combinations – indeed Garside had incorporated ballet into his training regimen for a period in 2019. But while he admits he found the physical side of the seven-hour dancing days challenging at times, it was the mental load of effectively starting from scratch at something that he found to be even more taxing.

“I always packed my boxing bag and I think throughout the process of the filming, I reckon I went to boxing about four times because I was just mentally torched from how hard it was to just remember the steps,” he says. “You’re on your toes all day thinking about what you’re doing.”

It’s not often that boxing and ballroom dancing are mentioned in the same sentence, but with his painted nails and former penchant for wearing dresses, the flamboyant and effervescent Garside has made a point of challenging gender norms and what it means to be a man over the course of his career and on his social media. He says such statements – including appearing on Dancing With the Stars – are about promoting individuality, inclusivity and encouraging people not to pigeonhole themselves.

Harry Garside says Dancing With the Stars helped get him back in the ring. Picture: NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

“When I look at society, sometimes I feel sad that most people get to their death bed and they don’t fully understand who they are or they’ve only ever explored one little aspect of who they are,” he says.

“I would argue that that aspect is just what they think they’re supposed to be for the community that they’re in. It’s really nice for me that I’m on this journey of just exploring things for myself and I hope by me just living purely to what drives me and motivates me and inspires me, I hope that other people can explore those things inside themselves too.”

Having successfully returned to professional boxing, Garside has set himself the goal of winning a world title in the next few years. As someone who is desperate to be a dad, he’s conscious of not outstaying his welcome in the punishing, even brutal, sport at the risk of doing permanent damage.

“If I am to roll the dice on boxing for too long then my kids in the future will probably get a sub-par or a secondary version of myself because boxing does take many things from you mentally,” he says. “I reckon I’ve got about three or four more years and I hope in that time I can win a world title.”

The decision to turn professional, he says, was largely a financial one. He returned from his last Olympic campaign actually owing money and he says he wants to set himself up financially while he’s still in his peak fighting years. Still, the thought of a possible gold medal still occasionally nags at the back of his mind.

Harry Garside punches Charlie Bell during their lightweight fight at the Hordern Pavilion last month. Picture: Getty Images

“It’s really, really hard,” he says of his decision to walk away from 2028 Games in Los Angeles. “Obviously I can’t say that it’s 100% over because I know when you start getting close to the Olympics and you start thinking about it, there’s always a young kid inside of me that wants to be an Olympic gold medallist.”

Dancing With the Stars, June 15, 7pm, Channel 7

Originally published as Boxer Harry Garside on fear, anxiety, Dancing With the Stars and letting his Olympic dream go