Brazil’s participation in boxing at the Paris Olympic Games has come to an end. The last Brazilian to fight was Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu, who was aiming for a semi-final in the featherweight category, up to 57 kg for women, but was eliminated by Turkish fighter Esra Ylidiz Kahraman.
In the fight, the opponent outperformed the Brazilian in the first round, which ended with all five judges giving the victory to the Turkish boxer. In the second round, Jucielen Romeu improved her performance in the ring and managed to reverse the disadvantage, winning the favor of four of the five judges. But the situation was reversed in the third and decisive round. It was Esra who had the best performance in the punches, according to the evaluation of four of the five judges. In the end, the victory for the Turkish athlete came on points by 4 to 1.
“I gave everything I could in the ring. Unfortunately, I didn’t win, but I’m happy with my performance. I won’t leave these Olympics feeling like, ‘Oh, I could have done that,’ or ‘Oh, if only I had done that,’ because I really did everything I could. I’m very happy with my performance, because I didn’t leave anything for later. Obviously, I’m sad that I didn’t win the medal, because I came so close. But that’s it, head held high. The work never stops. Trying for another cycle. And if everything goes well next time, I’ll get the Olympic medal I’ve always dreamed of,” said the Brazilian.
In the semi-finals, Turkey’s Esra Kahraman will face Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, who faced a similar situation to Algeria’s Imane Khelif. Lin failed a gender test conducted by the International Boxing Association (IBA), an organization that is suspended by the International Olympic Committee. But the IOC approved the participation of the athlete, as well as the Algerian, stating that they meet all the necessary medical requirements to participate in the boxing tournament.
Brazil
After winning three medals – one gold, one silver and one bronze – in the 2021 Tokyo edition, there was great expectation regarding the participation of Brazilian boxing in the Paris Olympics. After all, there were ten boxers classified among the 13 Olympic categories. However, the projection of at least two medals, made by the delegation’s head coach, Mateus Alves, before the start of the games, did not come true. Brazil won only one bronze with Beatriz Ferreira. The current world champion, the Bahian was the favorite to win gold in the women’s up to 60 kg category. However, she was defeated in the semifinals by Irish boxer Kellie Harrington, the same one who beat the Brazilian in the final of the Tokyo Olympics.
In the other categories, Caroline Almeida (up to 50 kg), Tatiana Chagas (up to 54 kg), Barbara Santos (up to 66 kg), Michael Trindade (up to 51 kg), Luiz “Bolinha” Oliveira (up to 57 kg) and Abner Teixeira (over 92 kg) were eliminated in the opening fight. And two other boxers from Brazil fell in the quarterfinals: Wanderley Holyfield Pereira (up to 80 kg) and Keno Marley (up to 92 kg).
“Boxing came with higher expectations than a bronze. That’s the issue. So we had a bad campaign, especially my men’s team, with a poor performance in the ring. The performance was not what we have presented in all events. And I cannot leave satisfied, as head coachwith just one bronze from a team that has four world medalists, eight Pan-American medalists”, analyzed Mateus Alves, who did not guarantee his permanence in the position of head of Brazilian boxing for the new Olympic cycle until the Los Angeles Games.
