Shields kicked off the first of four medal bouts on the final day of the 273-bout tournament that quickly turned into doubles action. “‘I hit you with a hard shot”.
Advertisement
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Claressa Shields won her second Olympic boxing gold medal Sunday, becoming the first American to win gold in two games.
“You only get to win one Olympic gold medal at a time in boxing, and people didn’t give me my recognition for doing it the first time”, Shields said. Even within the male-dominated sport of boxing, she didn’t receive the offers she expected to fight professionally and have her bouts air on prominent TV networks.
“My gold medal didn’t really mean a lot to the media, and I guess to the boxing world either”, Shields said.
Shields flashed her two golds.
Claressa Shields took out her medal from 2012 during her award ceremony Sunday. She returned to Rio and looked to defend that Olympic title.
Shields’s triumph over middleweight Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands gave USA Boxing its only gold of the Rio Olympics. Thus, Shields was so sure she had won that she raised her own hand, pumped her fist and smiled long before the unanimous decision was announced. Mossely sprinted toward her man and made a golden leap into Yoka’s massive arms, just as she did after her victory.
Uzbek boxer Shakhobidin Zoirov defeated Misah Aloian of Russian Federation by unanimous decision to win flyweight gold.
“We were dreaming about participating together”, Yoka said. The 23-year-old Zoirov was hoisted on the shoulders of one of his corner men and paraded around the ring in a victory celebration.
Fazliddin Gaibnazarov defeated Azerbaijan Lorenzo Sotomayor in the light welterweight final to become the third Uzbekistan boxer to win gold in the games.
Yoka labelled Joyce a “robot” and said the Englishman was “scared” of him ahead of their bout, but was pushed all the way in the final fight of the Games before he was given the verdict on a split decision.
Advertisement
The Dutchwoman, 28, had most of the crowd in the 9,000-seat arena on her side – it is a case of supporting anyone but an American or an Argentine for many Brazilians in Rio – and they roared their approval when Fontijn enjoyed some success in the second. You know not everybody can be an Olympic gold medallist.
