Paris Blues Banished, Lehane Set for Worlds Podium Push
Jennifer Lehane is focused on achieving podium success, starting with her upcoming fight next Thursday. “That’s the goal,” Lehane stated, adding, “My first fight is next Thursday and hopefully going forward from that we’ll get onto a medal stage.”
The athlete, pictured after qualifying for the Paris Games, acknowledged the difficult transition following her Olympic experience. Like many competitors, she experienced a period of post-Paris adjustment.
“We did a few workshops and we got that help before Paris, before the Olympics, to say that you are going to feel low after this,” Lehane explained. “We’ve heard all the post-Olympic blues and although we were so prepared for it, it still hit me like a ton of bricks.”
She described the sudden shift from intense training and momentum to returning to everyday life.”It was all this training, all this momentum for these two weeks, and then all of a sudden it’s over and you’re kind of sitting at home and everyone’s going back to work. life goes on. It was very difficult at the time.”
Adding to the challenge, Lehane was also recovering from a calf injury, delaying her return to full training. “I was kind of dealing with an injury in my calf as well, so I wasn’t able to kind of just plop myself back into training full-time. It took a while to get the rehab and get everything right with that, but I surrounded myself with great people.”
She credited her family and friends with helping her through the difficult period, now viewing the experience with “brilliant memories.”
Looking ahead to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, three years distant, Lehane is leveraging her Paris experience to set new goals. The Games affirmed her place among elite athletes, bolstering her confidence as she prepares for upcoming World Championships and other competitions.”Looking back at it, the dream was to get to the Olympics and there were certain days I’d wake up and say, ‘oh, am I capable of doing this?'” she said. Facing the Olympic champion in her first round, despite the loss, proved to Lehane that she belonged on the world stage.
“Once it all worked out and I qualified, even coming up against the Olympic champion in the first round, as unfortunate as it was, kind of proved to myself that I did belong in the ring with the best of the best,” she stated. “Although I was beaten, it wasn’t a standout kind of loss. It was kind of a way in my mind to show myself that I’m among the best of the world.”
Witnessing Kellie Harrington’s gold medal victory further inspired Lehane to dream bigger. “Even seeing Kellie harrington going on to win the gold, do you know, bigger dreams kind of are set in my mind now.”
Lehane is confident in her continued progress as a boxer, aiming to gain more international experience and ultimately secure a medal in the future. She believes she is now better prepared for major tournaments, benefiting from consistent routines that help manage the mental challenges of competition.
“One of the goals that I had put out for myself coming up to this world championships was trying to tackle the nerves of first-day fights or first-day spars,” she explained. To prepare, she simulated competition conditions during training camps in Germany and Sheffield, treating the first day of sparring as a competition day. “So I’ve gone through that twice, the first day kind of nerves, so hopefully the third time… Now, my first fight in Liverpool, you know, recognize the nerves and be able to cope with them and be confident in myself.”
Lehane is also a brand ambassador for Chadwicks, as shown in a recent image.
