Thursday, 12 July 2012

Boxing - Women make their Olympic debut

The new addition to the olympic programme this time around is the inclusion of women in the boxing ring. Boxing has been a part of the olympic programme since the 1904 St. Louis games making it one of the oldest Olympic sports, but it's also the sport where it has been the hardest for women to prove that they can compete at an Olympic. Boxing is also as far as I know the only sport that has an actual upper age limit, after the age of 34 you can not compete in Olympic games due to medical reasons since boxers take hard blows to the head alot. 

The Olympic format of the boxing tournament will be a knock-out tournament in different weight classes with the fight schedule decided based on rankings from competitions before the games. There are 13 gold medals up for grabs in this sports, 10 weight classes for Men's and 3 weight classes for the Women's competition. The fights take place in bouts where the fighters score points for clean hits to the head and the person with the most amount of points at the end of the last bout wins. A competitor can also win by knock-out where a person is hit to the ground and can't get up within a ten count from the judge. The men will compete in three bouts of three minutes while the women will compete in four bouts lasting two minutes.
To win a gold medal in boxing the athletes need to have a combination of strength, speed and the ability to think on their feet. Stamina is also a key to success since even if you are leading in points if you are taken out by knock-out in the last round you still loose. 

There are so many weight classes that talking about favourites is going to get a bit boring for you to read. However have a look out for these competitors:
- Katie Taylor (IRE) Women's Lightweight
- Felix Diaz (DOR) Men's Light Welterweight
- Luke Campbell (GBR) Men's Bantamweight

These athletes are ones i think can make a big impression on the boxing competition in this Olympic games tournament. However there are a vast number of talented athletes from almost all countries of the world competing so there will most likely be a few suprises up on the podium. 

I can't wait to see if the women can give as an exciting show as the men and secure their spot in the olympic programme once and for all.

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