Present in the Olympic programme since Saint Louis 1904, Boxing unveils great world sports stars. Boxers become true legends due to their performances in the ring, but also due to their troubled personal lives. No wonder the “Noble Art”, as the sport is known, became the basis for the screenplay of major film productions. And several Olympic gold medallists served as inspiration or had their lives shown on the big screen.

Muhammad Ali, gold medallist in Rome 1960, when he was still known as Cassius Clay, is one of such characters. The documentary “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” shows the boxer’s trajectory, who was punished by the US Supreme Court for refusing to fight in the Viet Nam War and even had his Boxing license suspended. His story is also portrayed in the biopic “Ali”, with actor Will Smith in the leading role.

Muhammad Ali’s historic rivals, Joe Frazier and George Foreman, Olympic champions in Tokyo 1964 and Mexico 1968 respectively, also contributed to the Seventh Art. Together with boxer Rocky Graziano, they served as sources of inspiration for the character of Rocky Balboa, protagonist of Sylvester Stallone’s feature film “Rocky”, which won the Academy Award for best picture in 1976. Graziano's life was portrayed in “Somebody Up There Likes Me”, a film based on his autobiography (1955) and starring Paul Newman.

Other Olympic champions like Lennox Lewis, who defeated Riddick Bowe in the Seoul 1988 Super Heavyweight final, became actors. The Canadian starred in films such as “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Shottas”. One of the latest International Boxing stars, Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko, Atlanta 1996 Olympic champion, participated in the comedy “Pain & Gain” and “Ocean’s Eleven”, working alongside Lennox Lewis. Gold medallists like Sugar Ray Leonard (Montreal 1976), Oscar de la Hoya (Barcelona 1992) and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (bronze in Atlanta 1996) received invitations to act, but refused them for now.

On 5 October in Moscow, Klitschko was the star of a famous combat between two Olympic champions. He defeated Russian Alexander Povetkin, Athens 2004 Super Heavyweight champion, who was undefeated in his professional career. The confrontation reminded the 1974 anthological combat between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.

Among today’s boxers, Italian Clemente Russo, who has three Olympic appearances as well as two silver medals (Beijing 2008 and London 2012) and has just become runner-up in the AIBA World Boxing Championships Almaty 2013, told the rio2016.com website that he intends to follow a film career after competing in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

“I always think of what to do when I end my career as an athlete. I would like to devote myself to television and cinema. I had a wonderful and entertaining experience as the protagonist of ‘Tatanka’, a film directed by Giuseppe Gagliardi, and I look forward to working in this world that fascinates me”, said Russo.

Once Olympic champions, great boxers tend to follow a career as professionals. Therefore, none of the above-mentioned names has even participated in more than one edition of the Games. So, two Cubans remain as the top medallists in the history of the sport. They are: three-time Olympic champion Teófilo Stevenson (Munich 1972, Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980), and Félix Savón, who won the titles in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. Stevenson died in June last year, at the age of 60, with impressive 301 victories in 321 bouts.