Amelia Lennon, who fights out of KKC Cabra, has amassed an incredible haul of gold medals during a globe-trotting year of competition.
But her finest moment came on August 30 in Budapest when, representing the Ireland National Team at the Wako Kickboxing World Championships, she took a gold medal for her country after four tough fights.
Sitting in the kitchen of her home in Donaghmede this week, with her biggest fan and travel companion, her dad Mark, Amelia’s shows no sign of being affected by her success.
“It was a very high standard with tough fights,” she tells the Sunday World of winning gold at the World Championships.
“But I had a lot of support, and by the end, even people from other countries were there cheering me on.”
During the competition, Amelia participated against four fighters in her age and weight categories.
Amelia’s dad Mark travels with her to the various competitions but says the family has to raise funds themselves as there’s no financial support from Government
Her arm being held up as world champ is a feeling Amelia says she’ll never forget.
“It felt great,” she said with a smile. “All the sacrifices I made all summer were worth it.”
Asked about those sacrifices, Amelia says she has to constantly monitor her weight while she trains at least two hours each day.
But, she continued, ever since she was five years old, when she followed her older brother Cian into kickboxing lessons, this has been her dream. “As soon as I joined, I loved it,” she says.
But she says she had to wait for success and a lot of losses preceded this year’s incredible successes.
“Every single competition, bar one in Amsterdam, I entered last year, I didn’t win.
“But the European Championships changed everything for me … and after that everything went uphill.”
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Spurred on by the hurt from losing and training under the careful guidance of coaches Nico Duffy, Darren Doherty, Aaron O’Reilly and Fabio Chuari, it was a determined Amelia who arrived at the Wako European Kickboxing Championships in Istanbul in August 2023.
Four successful fights later, she was crowned European Champion.
Competitions in Athens, Zagreb, Italy and Hungary saw her take home medal after medal.
Nor has she confined her sporting prowess to kickboxing, bringing home a silver at the Youth MMA World Championship in Abu Dhabi in August, having taken up the sport with Team Ryano less than a year ago.
Asked how the family finance Amelia’s travels, Mark, a facilities worker at Dublin airport, admits: “It’s not cheap! It probably costs €15,000 to €20,000 a year.
“Kickboxing is not funded by the Irish Government and Amelia is competing against fighters from all over the world who have State support. Some of them are also paid by their governments if they win a trophy. We don’t have anything like that. So we get around it by doing our own bit of fundraising.”
So, what are the long-term goals for Ireland’s newest combat sports sensation?
“The Olympics in 2032,” both daughter and father agree.
Amelia continues: “That’s the dream. An Olympic medal first and then I want the UFC belt!
“Girls shouldn’t be afraid to do what sports they want. They shouldn’t listen to anyone saying they can’t do a fighting sport because we can!”
