Australia and Olympic Boxing

Australia’s first Olympic boxer, and indeed boxing medallist, was the famous sporting all-rounder Reginald “Snowy” Baker. At London in 1908 Baker was defeated in the middleweight final by Johnny Douglas, who was later to captain England in Test cricket. The next medal came in Melbourne in 1956 with Kevin Hogarth’s bronze in the welterweight division. Tony Madigan and Ollie Taylor headed the boxing team in Rome in 1960 and both won bronze medals in the light heavyweight and bantamweight categories respectively. Madigan lost to a precocious Cassius Clay (now known as Muhammad Ali) in the semi final. Seoul in 1988 saw Grahame “Spike” Cheney equal Baker’s performance by winning a silver medal, as a light welterweight.

Olympic History

Boxing was not included on the program for the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 because it was considered dangerous and not a gentlemanly sport. The sport gained Olympic status in St Louis in 1904, in a nation where it was very popular. Women also gave a demonstration of boxing in St Louis. From 1904 onwards, except for Stockholm 1912 where it was prohibited under Swedish law, boxing has been an Olympic sport.

Gold Medal Winners from Athens 2004

48kg (Light Fly Weight) - Yan BHARTELEMY VARELA (CUB)

51kg (Fly Weight) - Yuriorkis GAMBOA TOLEDANO (CUB)

54kg (Bantam Weight) - Guillermo RIGONDEAUX ORTIZ (CUB)

57kg (Feather Weight) - Alexei TICHTCHENKO (RUS)

60kg (Light Weight) - Mario Cesar KINDELAN MESA (CUB)

64kg (Light Welter Weight) - Manus BOONJUMNONG (THA)

69kg (Welter Weight) - Bakhtiyar ARTAYEV (KAZ)

75kg (Middle Weight) - Gaydarbek GAYDARBEKOV (RUS)

81kg (Light Heavy Weight) - Andre WARD (USA)

91kg (Heavy Weight) - Odlanier SOLIS FONTE (CUB)

+91kg (Super Heavy Weight) - Alexander POVETKIN (RUS)