Boxing
The United States qualified nine boxers for the Olympic boxing tournament. Five boxers (Yanez, Warren, Russell, Williams and Andrade) earned their spots at the 2007 World Championships. Ali, Molina and Wilder qualified at the first American qualifying tournament. Estrada was the last American boxer to qualify, doing so at the second American tournament. The United States did not qualify in light heavyweight or super heavyweight classes.
The U.S. boxing team suffered several early setbacks from which it never recovered. Alternate Boyd Melson withdrew with an injury. Before they arrived in Beijing, U.S. boxers were reportedly unhappy with training methods, coaching, and travel restrictions. On August 8, 2008, two-time national champion and bantamweight boxer Gary Russell Jr. forcibly withdrew from the Olympics after collapsing before his weigh-in. Under International Amateur Boxing Federation rules, the U.S. was not permitted to select another boxer to take his place. Reigning flyweight world champion Raushee Warren, America's best hope for gold, lost his opening bout to Lee Ok-Sung of South Korea. In the end, the U.S. left Beijing with one bronze won by Deontay Wilder, its worst performance in Olympic history. The U.S. had previously won a single silver in 1948 and no medals in 1908 and 1980, when it did not send a boxing team. On September 5, 2008, Dan Campbell, the national director of coaching for USA Boxing, resigned.
| Athlete | Event | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Opposition Result |
Rank | ||
| Luis Yáñez | Light flyweight | de la Nieve (ESP) W 12–9 |
Serdamba (MGL) L 7–8 |
Did not advance | |||
| Raushee Warren | Flyweight | Lee O-S (KOR) L 8–9 |
Did not advance | ||||
| Raynell Williams | Featherweight | di Savino (ITA) W 9–1 |
Djelkhir (FRA) L 7–9 |
Did not advance | |||
| Sadam Ali | Lightweight | Popescu (ROU) L 5–20 |
Did not advance | ||||
| Javier Molina | Light welterweight | Georgiev (BUL) L 1–14 |
Did not advance | ||||
| Demetrius Andrade | Welterweight | Jvania (GEO) W 11–9 |
Balanov (RUS) W 14–3 |
Kim J-J (KOR) L 9–11 |
Did not advance | ||
| Shawn Estrada | Middleweight | Maderna (ARG) W 10–2 |
DeGale (GBR) L 5–11 |
Did not advance | |||
| Deontay Wilder | Heavyweight | Touilbini (ALG) W 10–4 |
Arjaoui (MAR) W 10+–10 |
Russo (ITA) L 1–7 |
Did not advance | 03 ! | |
Read more about this topic: United States At The 2008 Summer Olympics
Famous quotes containing the word boxing:
“... to paint with oil paints for the first time ... is like trying to make something exquisitely accurate and microscopically clear out of mud pies with boxing gloves on.”
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985)
“I can entertain the proposition that life is a metaphor for boxing—for one of those bouts that go on and on, round following round, jabs, missed punches, clinches, nothing determined, again the bell and again and you and your opponent so evenly matched it’s impossible not to see that your opponent is you.... Life is like boxing in many unsettling respects. But boxing is only like boxing.”
—Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938)