Australia's Harry Garside: The importance of Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman for my career
In an exclusive interview with Olympics.com, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist reveals why he idolises Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman, why he doesn't conform to gender stereotypes, and the benefits of ballet in boxing.
Boxing
Harry Garside is something of a maverick in the world of men's boxing.
The Australian often wears nail polish and dresses at public events and has incorporated ballet into his training in a bid to be at his best in the ring.
It’s a philosophy that helped the Melbourne native win his nation’s first boxing Olympic medal in 33 years - a lightweight bronze - at Tokyo 2020 in 2021.
*“*I'm a firm believer that every human, regardless of gender, has masculine and feminine energy inside of them,” Garside, who also works as a plumber, told Olympics.com ahead of the 2023 Pacific Games Olympic qualifier.
“I think maybe being in a sport like boxing, which is super masculine and male dominated, I balance myself out by tapping into my feminine energy, to flow, to relax, to recover, rest, to receive.
“The society that we live in often dictates that if you're a man that you can only live one way, and if you’re female, another. But I think we're so complex, unique and beautiful. And I think the more that you can flow between both your masculine and feminine inside of you, the more that you can explore yourself and I guess accept yourself for who you are.”
Boxing to feel closer with his father and brothers
Given Garside’s current approach to boxing, the reason he started boxing, is laced in irony.
The youngest of three brothers, the future athlete felt like he did not fit in with his siblings and father. So he started boxing in order to feel closer to them.
*“*They're all very masculine, macho men and I felt nothing like them. I think every young person wants to feel connected to the people around them,” he continued.
“We used to watch the Rocky movies and would always see these blokes fighting. I just felt so scared and so, so timid, so I decided to start boxing to be more like my brothers, and then I fell in love with the sport almost instantly.”
Despite this early enjoyment, Garside had a tough start in terms of results. The southpaw lost 10 out of his first 18 bouts, and was eliminated in the first round of the first four national championships he competed in.
But he carried on unperturbed, convinced that he could make those closest to him proud.
“It definitely didn't happen overnight. I just had to keep showing up," he said.
“That’s the importance of athletes having good people around them. And my boxing coach, Brian Levier, is still my coach at 80 years old. I think I really just wanted to impress him and prove that I could do this. There were many times that I thought I should probably stop and I’m so grateful I didn't.”
How Harry Garside is motivated by Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe
Another significant motivation are his Olympic heroes Cathy Freeman, the 400m Olympic champion from Sydney 2000, and five-time Olympic gold medal-winning swimming star Ian Thorpe.
Garside had posters of those Australian greats on his wall growing up, which motivated him to get out of bed and get to training.
It’s a trait that carries on to this day, with the boxer taking a small set of pictures of his heroes to stick on his hotel room walls whenever he travels.
“Waking up every morning and seeing a Cathy Freeman or an Ian Thorpe or Jess Fox, Usain Bolt, it honestly just inspires me and I jump out of bed and just wanted to get to training straightaway,” Garside said, pointing out the pictures on our video call of his favourite athletes’ faces on the wall behind him.
“I don't think anyone can ever be Ian Thorpe because he's one of the most decorated athletes ever, but I'm hoping that I'm walking in the right direction.
“Also someone like Michael Phelps. I think he went 365 days without taking a day off training and I love that so much.”
How Olympic bronze brought out the 'light wolf' in Harry Garside
Australia is a heavyweight at the Olympic Games having won 547 medals.
However, only five of those have come in boxing, including one silver and three bronzes.
Garside delivered one of the bronzes at Tokyo 2020 in 2021 - his greatest boxing achievement to date, and his nation’s first medal in the sport in over three decades.
The lightweight believes that his achievements in Japan upgraded him as a person both in and out of the ring.
“That bronze medal reinforced in myself that I am capable of amazing things,” he said.
“I think every human is, right? But we tell ourselves stories and I think for a massive portion of my life I told myself that I wasn't good enough.
“We all have that light and that dark wolf inside of us, and the loudest wolf is the one that is fed the most. That Olympic bronze medal fed the voice inside of me that tells me that I can do it. It really allowed me to step more into that good wolf, that positive wolf, that strong wolf. And I'm really happy about that.”
Harry Garside of Team Australia celebrates with his bronze medal during the victory ceremony for the Men's Light (57-63kg) Final on day sixteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games at Kokugikan Arena on August 08, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.
Dancing like Vasily Lomachenko and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Elite athletes often look outside of their own sports in a bid to maximise their performance and gain an advantage over their rivals.
In this way, Garside incorporated ballet into his boxing training in 2019, and sees it as one of the reasons that he was so successful in Tokyo.
*“*Ballet has been amazing. I'm still very bad, but I'm trying my best to get better,” Garside said with a smile.
“My inspiration behind it was Vasiliy Lomachenko, who's a two-time Olympic gold medalist boxer from Ukraine. He did traditional Ukrainian dancing and I absolutely love him as an athlete. I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger do it too, and many other Australian athletes.
“I'm such a firm believer that any dance, regardless if it's ballet or contemporary jazz, will help you bend your body more, which will help your athletic performance.
“One day I'll be good enough to do a performance but maybe in five or 10 years down the track after I’m finished with boxing. The world's a big place and that’s definitely on the bucket list of things I want to do before I turn 50.”
Garside has featured in Australia’s headlines regularly this year.
He appeared on reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here,” where he finished second, and made headlines in May 2023 when he was arrested on common assault charges which he denied, before the case was dropped and he was cleared a month later.
Coupled to his success in the ring, and a refusal to conform to gender stereotypes, Garside has attracted much attention in Australia.
*“*I think there's so much social conditioning that goes into the beliefs that people have,” he said.
“I'm just like a super, free-spirited person and pretty easy going. If I can somehow be an expression for young people that you can flow and you can do a sport like boxing, that you can also be like the Troy Bolton from High School Musical and sing and dance and be totally fine.
*“*The negative feedback has been hard at times but sometimes it can be really good because it can solidify or help you reflect on your beliefs and grow.
“If you are suffering from hate, the most important thing is to find your people who accept you for you. There's been periods in my life where I would spend it with the wrong people, and I've really felt myself drift away from my goals or drift away from my authentic self."
“But the more that you can find your tribe the happier you will be. Try sports, try drama, try music, try being a chef, find the thing that lights you up a little bit and spend more time doing it.” - Harry Garside to Olympics.com
Australia could 'win multiple medals at Brisbane 2036 Olympics'
The life of an athlete is often viewed as a selfish one, with a lifestyle focused around maximising their performance.
Garside recognised this in himself and decided to change. The results was a new motivation to inspire the next generation of athletes in Australia, in addition to winning his nation's first boxing Olympic gold medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
“Winning the gold would be awesome, but what I really want to do is shine a positive light on the sport of boxing in Australia. That would mean the world to me,” he said.
**“**I think the more that you can be strong on your why, the more that it can be about other people and not just about yourself.
“After focusing on myself over the past few years, my “why” has transitioned to making my family proud and inspiring the next generation of future boxers in Australia.”
The 2036 Olympics will be hosted in Brisbane and Garside feels his nation has the talent to be a top boxing nation at the Games on home soil.
“I firmly believe that we have the possibility to win multiple medals at Brisbane 2036, and let's hope it could be gold. If that happens, a whole generation of athletes at home would be inspired.”
Zakir Safiullin (red) of Kazakhstan exchanges punches with Harry Garside of Australia (blue) during the Men's Light (57-63kg) quarter final on day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Despite viewing his Olympic bronze medal performance as transformative, and wanting nothing more than to inspire a future gold medallist from Australia, Garside actually puts limited value on tangible prizes.
As such, he chose to give his Tokyo 2020 bronze medal to a sports museum in Melbourne.
To him, the real achievement was in the effort it took to win, and the changes he underwent as a person.
“It's great to go down in the history books and even better if that medal can inspire the young athletes coming through,” he said.
“But for me, it's more about the person you become on the journey to get there rather than being a medallist or being an Olympian.
“That growth as a person is the most important thing, and that’s where the real magic lies in what we do.”