The British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced today the first three women ever to represent Team GB in boxing at the Olympic Games. Two further male boxers are also named as selected to Team GB today.
The selections bring the total number of boxers who will fight for Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics to ten – seven male and three female. They represent Team GB’s largest ever Olympic boxing squad, two more than were selected for the last Olympics in Beijing.
The boxers selected to Team GB today are:
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London is the first Olympic Games to include women’s boxing and Team GB will have plenty of reason for optimism after all three female boxers selected secured their qualification for London 2012 by winning medals at the recent World Championships in Quinhuangdao, China.
Savannah Marshall, 21, became Britain’s first ever women’s World Boxing Champion by winning the title on her 21st birthday with a tense 17-15 victory over Elena Vystropova of Azerbaijan. It was the second time the boxing prodigy from Hartlepool had competed in the World Championship final after she agonisingly lost 5-4 to Andrecia Wasson of the USA in the 2010 final of the 69kg weight class in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Nicola Adams, 29, is Great Britain’s most decorated female boxer. She is the current European Champion at 51kg and a three-time World Championships silver medallist. Natasha Jonas, 27, has already made history twice as the first women to box in the Great Britain vest in November 2009 and the first ever British female to achieve the qualifying standard for the Olympic Games, which she did by winning a bronze medal at the 2012 World Championships in Quinhuangdao.
Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Anthony Ogogo and Scottish Lightweight Josh Taylor join the men’s squad after securing their qualification by virtue of their impressive performances at the second and final Olympic qualifying event in Trabzon, Turkey in April 2012.
The boxers selected today join the five male boxers already announced as members of Team GB in December last year after qualifying for the Olympics by virtue of their placement at the 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. The five boxers previously selected to Team GB are:
Together, the ten boxers now selected to Team GB include one World Champion, three European Champions, and four more World Championship finalists. Seven of the ten are ranked in the top four in the world in their weight class.
The squad, based in Sheffield, go into the Olympic competition at Excel with a strong track record and an unprecedented level of success which has resulted in 20 medals at six major tournaments over the last three years under the leadership of GB Boxing Performance Director Rob McCracken.
All ten athletes have achieved their places at the Olympic Games following a very tough qualification. The addition of the five boxers brings the total number of athletes officially selected to compete for Team GB at London 2012 to 195 across sixteen sport disciplines: archery, athletics – marathon, badminton, boxing, canoe slalom, fencing, hockey, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, synchronised swimming, table tennis, taekwondo and triathlon.
Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt said:
Rob McCracken, Team GB Boxing Team Leader and British Amateur Boxing Association Performance Director said:
Rob McCracken on Savannah Marshall:
On Natasha Jonas:
On Nicola Adams:
On Anthony Ogogo:
On Josh Taylor:
Nicola Adams said:
Natahsa Jonas said:
Savannah Marshall said:
Josh Taylor said:
Anthony Ogogo said: