The 108th. anniversary of boxing as a sport that integrates the Olympic programme will be celebrated with a female touch. At London 2012 women will compete for medals for the first time in the “noble art”, one of the oldest types of sports.

The next edition of the Olympic Games will feature three weight categories: 48kg to 51kg, 57kg to 60kg, and 69kg to 75kg. Countries such as China, Ireland and Canada are the gold medal favourites. Their athletes have reached the top of the podium in the three categories, respectively, in the latest World Championship in 2010. Great Britain, the USA and Russia are other top women’s boxing nations.

“After boxing was included in the Games in 2009, and with this year’s debut of women’s boxing, a significant growth in investments in this sport and an increased number of practitioners are expected all over the globe. Some nations are already enjoying this success. This tendency will certainly increase with the emergence and visibility of the Olympic champions, who will be role models to other nations”, Mauro José da Silva, President of the Brazilian Boxing Confederation, says.

There will be 12 female boxers in each category, totalling 36 competitors, 24 of whom will qualify in the 2012 World Championship to compete in China. This is the seventh edition of a competition that started in 2001. A total of 11 other athletes will be invited, whereas the host Great Britain is entitled to one place.

Men's Boxing

The first hard evidence of boxing can be found in third millennium Egypt. Ancient Olympic Games introduced the sport in VII B.C. The matches, far from resembling a sporting event, became popular in the Roman Empire, where winning meant staying alive.

With the fall of the Empire, the sport suddenly disappeared and later reappeared in 17th C England. Modern Olympics first featured boxing at Saint Louis 1904. In over 100 years, boxing has been in the Olympic programme except at Stockholm 1912, due to Swedish laws at that time.

Through the history of this sport, the USA has dominated boxing since the first match, when they are both host country and only participants, winning 109 medals, accounting for 13% of the total. Cuba comes second with 63 medals all claimed as from the City of Mexico 1968. The Soviet Union, with 51 medals, is the third most powerful boxing nation.

Recently other schools have emerged as boxing powers. At Beijing, the 11 gold medals awarded were claimed by nine different nations. Only China and Russia had won more than one (two each). Twenty nations claimed at least one of the 44 medals.

“In the latest Olympic Games, Cuba claimed eight medals, but none of gold, whereas the USA claimed only one bronze medal. On the other hand, it seems a new milestone has been reached in terms of ex-Soviet Union hegemony, represented mainly by Ukraine”, Mauro adds.

“At Beijing 2008, only one gold and one bronze [please complete] were claimed, but in the latest World Championship, held in 2011, four out of ten medals were claimed. They lost only the final one to Brazilian Everton Lopes, in the 64kg class. Russia, Azerbaijan, Cazaquistan also emerge as boxing powers”, he concludes. At London 2012, it will be 10 weight classes competed by men.