Shield’s triumph in the women’s middleweight final on Sunday against the Netherlands’ Nouchka Fontijn means that at the age of just 21, she is a double Olympic gold victor, the 2014 World Champion, and the 2015 Pan American Games champion.
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The last American boxer to win two golds was Oliver Kirk, who won both the bantamweight and featherweight titles at the same 1904 St. Louis Olympics, where only US boxers took part. Joyce continued to press and was more accurate in the final three minutes, but Yoka had already done enough, edging a split decision to win the final Olympic Boxing gold of Rio 2016.
The 21-year-old Flint, Michigan, native beat Netherlands fighter Nouchka Fontijn by unanimous decision in convincing fashion.
Right after the bout, she told NBC her strategy was “just to be smart, use my jab, and land the right hand when I could, and not get touched by those long arms she had, and I did it!”
Shields was a cut above once again as she took her record as an amateur to 77 victories and just one defeat, with her only loss coming back in 2012.
And though she had said all along that there was no “if” in her pursuit of a second Olympic gold – victory was certain, she vowed – all she could say in the immediate aftermath was repeat over and over, “I can’t believe it!”
Late in the fight, Shields acted like she was begging Fontijn to fight. I’m a two-time Olympic gold medalist. “But I have a great story to tell”. Women’s boxing made its debut at the London Games. “I said I have to be smart”, she said of the fight. After the win, she did a cartwheel in the ring and ran around the arena with the flag. “I felt left out because I was like, wow, I’m the first woman to ever win an Olympic gold medal and I didn’t really get any recognition for it”, she said. It didn’t diminish her love or respect for her USA teammate, but it reminded her that even the best boxers don’t always win every fight.
She couldn’t – not with the way that Shields slipped and ducked – Shields won every round against Fontijn.
“That’s what I want to do for those kids who grew up in my home city of Flint or grew up in towns anything like it – Chicago, Memphis – anywhere they come up somewhere rough or they have bad parents”.
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The American was building a lead and had her hands down in a sign the confidence was flowing through her, as the pair went at one another at the end of the round with a flurry of wild punches.
