11-05-2025
RTE set for schedule shake up as world champion gets own show with iconic guests starting with two-time Olympic hero
FORMER world champion boxer Bernard Dunne will seek to answer the question "What is success?" through his own show on RTE Radio.
The show - titled
Dunne Talking
- is an eight-part
radio
series on
Radio 1
through which he will speak with some of
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Bernard Dunne will chat to Kellie Harrington for the first episode of his new show on RTE
Credit: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
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The eight-part series will also feature conversations with Olympians Sonia O'Sullivan and Jack Woolley
Credit: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
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Woolley represented Ireland at Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
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Dunne will also chat to Republic of Ireland legend Niall Quinn, right
Credit: David Maher/Sportsfile
The first episode - airing today - will reunite Dunne with
boxing
, which
Paris
Olympics.
Describing life as a young teenager before she started boxing, Kellie tells Bernard, 'It was chaotic because I made it chaotic, you know, like just as a teenager.
"Like I say, I love my city but there's a lot going on around you and to get sidetracked is very, very easy.
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"And it's nothing about your upbringing or anything because I have a great mother and father and three smashing brothers and I was just the wild one out of them all.'
After first picking up the gloves at the age of 15, Harrington went on to forge a spectacular CV in the sport.
She has won gold medals at the World Championships,
European Championships
, and European Games, as well as two Olympic titles.
But speaking about her first fight which ended in defeat, she revealed: 'I bawled my eyes out all the way home, mainly because of my ego because I was after being bashed.'
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Her journey culminated at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when she won a lightweight gold medal by beating Beatriz Ferreira.
The Dubliner did it yet again in Paris last
summer
- her last tournament at international level before retiring.
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By beating Yang Wenlu of
China
in the final, Harrington became the first ever Irish boxer to win consecutive gold medals.
On the difference between her Tokyo win and her Paris win, she said: 'I dedicated that to Ireland.
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"This time I was dedicating it to myself, you know, because it was not easy to get there.
"You get to a mountain; you get to the top of that mountain. People want to push you over the edge, you know.
"But to be able to stay strong and then look up to the mountain beside it and climb that mountain
next
to it, it's bloody hard, you know.
"It really is hard.'
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Each standalone episode of
Dunne Talking
offers a candid conversation with elite sportspeople who have reached the pinnacle of their respective fields.
It delves into the mental and emotional resilience needed to overcome adversity, the sacrifices behind the glory, and the human stories that define success.
As well as harrington, the series will also feature chats with nine-time All-Ireland winner James McCarthy and seven-time All-Ireland camogie and
football
winner Mary O'Connor.
Dunne will also speak to Irish Olympians Jack Woolley and Sonia O'Sullivan, and
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Dublin players Stephen Cluxton and James McCarthy, 5, celebrate after the 2023 All-Ireland final
Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
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Cork captain Mary O'Connor celebrates with the All-Ireland LGFA trophy in 2009
Credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
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Ellen Keane of Ireland with, from left, parents Eddie and Laura, brother Graham, Kate Murphy and partner Max Doyle after the women's S9 100m backstroke heats on day six of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games
Credit: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
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Jim Bolger trainer of Guaranteed after the Club Godolphin Irish EBF Maiden during Irish Oaks Day at the Curragh Racecourse in Kildare in 2018
Credit: Matt Browne/Sportsfile
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