Charlie Senior

Bantamweight Charlie Senior relies on some pretty handy footwork in the ring and it’s no real surprise – he came to the sport of boxing through dance.

As an 11-year-old, Charlie spotted a boxing gym next door to the dance studio he was attending and decided to give it a shot.

Born in the West Yorkshire city of Bradford, Charlie and his family moved to Perth when he was two years old.

After the switch from dance to boxing, he claimed three national youth titles before winning the Elite Australian featherweight (57kg) title in 2019.

That result won him a place on the Australian team at the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualification tournament in Jordan in March 2020, where he narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Tokyo Games.

Edged out by a Vietnamese opponent, he was denied a second chance to qualify when the repechage tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19.

“It was a big hit to the heart,” Charlie said. “But I wore it.”

At the 2022 Commonwealth in Birmingham, Charlie thought had done enough to claim his round of 16 bantamweight (57kg) fight against Canadian Keoma-Ali Al-Ahmadadieh, but the judges thought otherwise, with a 3-2 decision going against him.

After these disappointments, Charlie was more driven than ever heading into the Paris Olympics. His preparation saw him fight sharp and strong opponents from nations such as India and Britain, boxing factories that lead the way in his bantamweight division.

He secured his place at the Olympics with a gold medal at the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands, beating Papua New Guinea’s Allan Oaike by unanimous decision in the final.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics Charlie became the first Australian boxer to win an Olympic featherweight medal.

The 22-year-old, who famously performed a backflip after every bout, won bronze in the men’s 57kg division.

He beat Belgian Vasile Usturoi 4:1 in the round of 16 and in the quarter-finals recorded a 3:2 win over Filipino Carlo Paalam.

A loss in the semi-finals to Uzbek boxer Abdumalik Khalokov ended his run with bronze.