Shona Whitwell: “After spending eight years at GB, I just feel let down and heartbroken. Going to the Olympics was always my dream.”

Shona Whitwell: “After spending eight years at GB, I just feel let down and heartbroken. Going to the Olympics was always my dream.”

If ever a headline says everything, it is the one above.

Eight years of blood, sweat, and tears. Eight years of unwavering loyalty. That’s what Shona Whitwell has given in pursuit of that Olympic dream. Her dream. Loyalty, sadly for her, didn’t work two ways.

Not so long ago, that dream was cruelly ripped away from her, by the GB selectors selecting a fighter who just a few short weeks previously wasn’t even part of that GB set-up.

Amy Broadhurst was more than controversially selected to go to Thailand for the final Olympic qualifier for the upcoming Paris Olympics ahead of Whitwell and Gemma Richardson another Team GB stalwart. Richardson had five years of service behind her. Broadhurst, in comparison, just a couple of weeks. Even with medals at the heart of that decision, how can that possibly be right?

“I am starting to accept what’s happened, I guess,” Whitwell told me over Zoom just a few weeks removed from a decision that ended that Olympic dream. “Obviously, I have been upset for the last few weeks about it. I’ve been in denial almost and heartbroken. But I am coming through that stage now and accepting it for what it is. I thought Amy would qualify for Paris, but when she didn’t, it kind of softened the heartbreak a little. But it is like you said there are no winners in this situation, and it’s just sad because nobody wins.

“Amy didn’t box for a whole year because she was injured and this and that. I just think if that was me and I had been inactive like her, I wouldn’t have expected to have even been in the running for selection. If you are injured, then that is just how life life is. Being inactive for a year is a long time in amateur boxing as well. Grainne Walsh quite rightly got selected for Ireland because she was active and doing well.”

Broadhurst went to Thailand, but for her and the team of selectors, the gamble of many things failed to pay off. Just maybe, it was a touch of boxing karma. But there were no winners, and everyone involved would all have now realised it was all for nothing. At least all parties can agree on that, at least.

At least from the outside, there does seem to be a lack of empathy towards Whitwell and Richardson. Whitwell claims there was no direct personal communication in regards to the early stages of the process that resulted in Broadhurst switching allegiances from Ireland to GB Boxing.

“The whole situation was just frustrating. I found out about Amy possibly switching to GB through someone sending me a newspaper article and not by someone having the decency to tell me,” Whitwell says of that initial moment when she realised her hopes of qualifying for Paris was all of a sudden in real danger. “I then turned up for camp in Sheffield, and Amy was just there. It was like a shock to the system because I didn’t actually expect it because you see loads of things in articles that are not true.”

Whitwell turning up for training one April morning in Sheffield, and seeing Broadhurst there without any prior notice seems incredibly heartless. At best, it’s beyond lacking in thought. Surely, an avoidable oversight where no hindsight was needed. But Whitwell knew where it was all leading to.

“I knew where the situation was going,” she told FightPost. “I knew how it would all pan out. Amy didn’t even have to box to be selected. Gemma and I both boxed in a tournament and lost to the world number three from China. But I still think I performed well, and it was a split decision. It would have helped if it was further down the line in the tournament instead of the opening fight. Amy didn’t have to box, so it was obvious what was going to happen right from the beginning. But the reality of it actually happening was just something else. It was heartbreaking, to be honest. It’s actually brought me and Gemma together because we are the only ones going through this kind of situation. We understand how we both feel. We hadn’t really spoken for years because we have been rivals.”

The day of reckoning was always inevitable for Shona Whitwell. Decision day was a foregone conclusion she had long believed. She knew what was coming. In truth, we all did.

“I was told I wasn’t selected for the final qualifier in person, but I already knew the way it was going to go,” Whitwell says of that pivotal moment that crushed her dream. “I turned up in Sheffield, and I didn’t even pack my bags because I was fully aware of what was going to happen. It was so obvious, everybody knew what would happen. They told me, and I just went straight back home, I didn’t even have my kit with me. So, I have just spent the last few weeks dealing with all the emotions.

“Everything I had put into the sport. After spending eight years at GB, I just feel let down and heartbroken. Going to the Olympics was always my dream. It does affect your love for the sport, and I want to get that back.”

As I have written previously, the anger in this whole situation shouldn’t be aimed at Amy Broadhurst. She did what she had to do. But she shouldn’t have been allowed to. Broadhurst had chosen to represent Ireland in trying to reach Paris. But she failed to qualify through the Irish set-up, and when all avenues were exhausted by that route, that should have been the end of her Olympic dream. Her hopes had reached their natural conclusion. She shouldn’t have been afforded two bites at the Olympic apple through two different countries. Especially in such a short period of time. And even more, at the expense of far more deserving fighters who had given years of service to their employers.

But time has healed at least some of the recent pain. The emotions are still there. A fighter still trying to process and deal with all the recent events. But there are signs that she is moving slowly on and looking forward to what lies ahead.

“Over the next few weeks, I will be figuring out what my options are. I’m exploring all my options, and then I will just go from there. One chapter has been closed, so it’s tunnel vision and focussing on what’s next. The Olympics has always been my number one goal, so I have to set new goals now.” 

Maybe everyone is a victim in all of this. That search for Olympic medals prompted a decision that should have come with a little more of the human touch. Amy Broadhurst was allowed to put herself in a situation where virtually everyone wanted her to fail. In many ways, it was an impossible situation for her.

But Gemma Richardson and Shona Whitwell are where most of our sympathies should lie. Eventually, time will fully heal. But that bitter taste will linger long, you would suspect. Both deserved better.

Very soon, a new journey will begin for Whitwell. Hopefully, one that she has a little more control over. One dream has died. Another will soon begin.