Team GB boxing squad set to amaze at Rio as Joshua Buatsi put up a fantastic third round knockout performance to defeat the number three seed, Uzbekistan’s Elshod Rasulov on Thursday evening.
Team GB are determined to grab as many medals as they can from this year’s Olympics at Rio to overtake their main two competitors from previous Olympics such as USA and China. Although there are many different kinds of athletes from different sports that make up Team GB (rowing, judo, hockey etc.), one sport team that is expected to outshine the others is the Team GB boxing squad.
Action Images/Peter Cziborra
The Team GB boxing squad has had a couple of well known boxers, with such names as current IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua who was part of the squad in London 2012. They came first in the boxing medal table in the 2012 games held in London, winning three gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal. The Team GB boxing squad for the Olympics this year consists of many hard working and impressive individuals.
One of the first boxers that deserve to be mentioned is Nicola Adams MBE. She was the first female boxer to ever represent England and has since gone on to break many records. Adams was a key member of the squad in the 2012 games and is currently hailed as Great Britain’s most successful female boxer. She is currently the reigning Olympic, World, Commonwealth Games and European Games champion at flyweight. Her most notable boxing match was when she defeated Ren Cancan (from China) in the flyweight final at the 2012 Olympics to become the first woman in history to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. This achievement was one of the reasons why she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013. Adams was also propelled to fame, she is now known as one of the faces of Team GB along with the likes of Mo Farrah, Jessica Ennis and Tom Daly. Adams isn’t just all brawn though was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Leeds in 2015. She is also the first openly LGBT person to win an Olympic boxing Gold medal after her win in the London 2012 games.
Another boxer that needs to be watched in the Team GB boxing squad is 23-year-old boxer Joshua Buatsi. The St Mary’s University student (studying a management studies and sports science degree) was born in Ghana before coming to the UK at aged 9 and grew up in Shrublands estate in Croydon. He gained his place in the boxing squad after beating Dutch boxer Peter Müllenburg in the final of the light-heavyweight tournament at the 2016 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament. Being selected to represent your country in the Olympics is a huge deal and Buatsi understands that, he also wanted to give back to the country that took him in as a child telling the Evening Standard that “Britain is a country of opportunity for everyone, I’ve just taken the opportunities I can and in a sense this is saying thank you and giving back to the country. I take it very seriously and I’m grateful every time I put a GB vest on.” The journey to becoming an Olympic boxer started when Buatsi was 15 when he joined the South Norwood and Victory boxing club.
The selected athletes for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games are:
Women:
Nicola Adams, 33, hometown Leeds (flyweight, -51kg)
Savannah Marshall, 25, Hartlepool (middleweight, -60kg)
Men:
Galal Yafai, 23, Birmingham (light flyweight, -49kg)
Muhammad Ali, 20, Bury (flyweight -52kg)
Qais Ashfaq, 23, Leeds (bantamweight -56kg)
Joe Cordina, 24, Cardiff (lightweight -60kg)
Pat McCormack, 21, Birtley (light welterweight -64kg)
Josh Kelly, 22, Sunderland (welterweight -69kg)
Antony Fowler, 25, Liverpool (middleweight -75kg)
Joshua Buatsi, 23, London (light heavyweight -81kg)
Lawrence Okolie, 23, London (heavyweight -91kg)
Joe Joyce, 30, London (super heavyweight +91kg)
