Lightweight boxer Luke Jackson has been chosen to captain the men’s boxing team at the London Olympics. With a full contingent of boxers qualified for the first time, Jackson hopes to lead his team to Australia’s first gold medal and most successful Olympics in history.

“It is a great honour for me to represent my country at the Olympic Games as the boxing team captain,” Jackson said from Serbia after winning a silver medal in the Belgrade Winner competition last week.

“I always looked up to my boxing team captain Jarrod Fletcher when I was a young boxer coming up the ranks and never thought I would be in that position myself.”

“It is a great responsibility to be the team captain but I can handle it and I thrive on keeping myself busy.”

Jackson assumed the role of captain at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2011 World Championships, and at 27 years of age, he is one of the more senior boxers in the team and will use his experience to lead the team when they compete at the ExCeL arena this July.

“I was the captain of the 2010 Commonwealth Games team in Delhi and we didn’t win one medal there which was the worst performance by an Australian boxing team in many years. Now I want to be the captain of the most successful boxing team. I think we can get some medals and that’s what I am telling the boys,” he said.

As captain, Jackson will work with head coach Don Abnett and be responsible for motivating his team, which will be made up of 10 athletes including himself.
 
“The main thing is to just keep the boys happy and motivated,” Jackson said. “Remind them why we are here doing the hard training and that being away from home for months at a time is for a reason – that it will all be worth it in the end so train hard and do the right things in and outside the gym!

“I remind them that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we all should be very thankful to be here. They are a good bunch of guys that listen well and I’ve told them all that if I can do anything for them just ask me and I will do my best to help them.”

The boxing team now head to Lithuania and Belarus to continue their preparations for the London Games before returning to Australia at the end of the month.

Alice Wheeler
AOC