AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 24
Join us on our on-going exploration of the Olympics to be held in Tokyo 2021, featuring Christian from the Friday Night Panel, and the route to the ring. Watch TalkinFight weekdays at 12, 4, 7, and 8:30pm EST on YouTube or LIVE at talkinfight.com/live @Olympic @IOC Media #olympics
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#boxer #boxing #boxingtalkshow
Transcribed:
Hello there, christian hello, talk and fight fans around the world.
Thank you for joining us in another episode, uh unboxing and specifically boxing at uh tokyo with the olympics in 2021 july this year, and we’ve got some news.
I believe today right yep, nope, there’s always news.
Graham, all right always always news.
Well, you know i’m here so there’s news so uh before we jump right into boxing here on the games uh themselves, uh we’ve had a bit of an update here, the world’s oldest person 118 year old, japanese woman, who we featured a little story on a couple Of weeks ago has decided not to take part in the torch relay for tokyo 2020 olympics because of concerns about the coronavirus, an official at her nursing home that put out a statement on wednesday saying catherine.
You know this cast more shadow over an event which is already facing significant hurdles, including possible lockdown extensions, kane tanaka, who is named in the guinness book of world records, as the oldest living person was slated to be one of the relay participants in fukuoka in the Southern japan now this was due to be on the 11th of may.
Six people who have helped with the torch relay were diagnosed with covet 19 and the tokyo 2020 organizer said on sunday so far, bringing the total number of cases involved with the relay event up to eight.
So things still kind of plugging along in this relay event.
But they’re gon na be taking it off the streets more and more so we’re gon na be uh, seeing a little bit here, uh much the same as what we’ve already seen in osaka and other places, i think we’re going to see this run in private parks.
We’Re going to see fewer runners or they’ll, be you know, trying to find volunteers.
As you know, celebrities and uh the noteworthy ads are starting to drop off of this list.
So we’ll keep you updated and uh with everything that’s going on with that, but moving on into boxing itself, canadian boxer mandy bujold has been denied an olympic birth by the international olympic committee.
Now this was more than a week after she made her case as to why she should qualify for the games.
Bujol, as you guys will know, is one of canada’s most successful boxers with two pan american titles and 11 national championships, but was left on the outside.
Looking in after the ioc’s qualifying process kept her out of the olympic games now because the two qualifying events were cancelled, as you guys all know, due to the pandemic, the ioc went back to an 11-month time period between 2018 and 19, including three events to qualify.
Boxers for the games – and it was during this time that bujold was pregnant and postpartum uh.
She consistently ranked within the top four boxers in her weight class, leading up to that time.
Frame bujold as uh as we’ve covered here on this before, has secured uh legal representation to fight uh to qualify for tokyo, making her argument based on human rights inequity, uh bujold says today the ioc wrote to my lawyer indicating that it was not accepting the legal Arguments raised in her letter of april 23rd.
We now have, unfortunately, no choice but to pursue our legal challenge before the courts so uh again, as we’ve mentioned before, boujold has hired sylvie rodriguez, her friend and 28-year corporate litigator at torrey’s llp in toronto.
To help in this fight and they’re arguing that female athletes should not be denied a spot in the olympics due to having given birth rodriguez had delivered their argument to the ioc two weeks ago.
As then, at the time, both her and bujold were optimistic, that the ioc would make what they felt was an easy decision.
Bujold says we gave the ioc the opportunity to step up and do the right thing for female athletes who took a brief break to have a child.
The ioc’s position is surprising not only from a human human rights perspective, but also in view of the multiple public statements that it’s made recently with respect to its commitment to women in sport and gender equality, specifically in the context of the tokyo olympics.
So, with less than three months to go now before the olympics, bujold and her legal team are up against a tight timeline but they’re not giving up with their next steps to include going to the court of arbitration for sport.
Now this is going to be a last that the last ditch effort to get bujold into the games uh.
She has said in past that she will be retiring after these olympics and it was her hope to podium at the games before stepping away from the sport.
So some unfortunate news for uh for one of our hometown here, uh not surprising.
We discussed this, you know recently and i don’t think either.
One of us really expected the ioc to step up on this.
One um they’re gon na need to see something in terms of like a class action with multiple athletes coming at them from all sides before we actually see any kind of meaningful change, but hopefully this at least sparks the debate uh.
Even if the court of arbitration for sport doesn’t go in mandy’s favor, hopefully at least sparks the debate and by the time we’re looking at the qualification process for paris 2024, as well as other major tournaments that’ll, be happening between now and then you know, such as Pan am such as uh commonwealth in birmingham next year.
Things like that, so hopefully we’re opening the discussion, at least to take a better look at how we qualify these people um, who are a postpartum or pregnant uh during the qualification periods.
So we’ll see what happens with that and as always guys, i will keep you guys updated as we hear more, because i doubt that we’ve heard the last from mandy about this, and i doubt that we’ve heard the last from her legal team about this one.
So i’ll i’m curious to see how this one’s going to fall and i’m sure you guys are too but moving on moving on today is cinco de mayo, philly cinco de mayo, graham not mexican independence day.
For those of you who don’t know it actually commemorates the mexican army’s win over napoleon, the third’s forces at the better of battle of pueblo back in 1868, or something like that.
But it is a holiday where so we are going to take a look at a uh a mexican fighter.
Today we are uh because this ties in a little bit with what you and i have been discussing over the past few weeks when it comes to not only the money that uh either is or isn’t there for amateur athletes, as well as uh exposure for these Athletes, if something like these games get canceled and what that can mean and it’s all kind of tied in.
So i thought we might take a look at this today because, as we know, elite sports can be fickle and athletes often receive little attention for finishing second place.
Now that used to be esmerelda, falcon’s story as well, but the uh boxer’s life changed in 2018 when she won the 60 kilogram title at the central american and caribbean games in baranquilla colombia.
Subsequently, she finally received the scholarship offer she needed realistically to have a chance of qualifying for the tokyo olympic games 2021.
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She says the medal changed.
My whole life because i had been selected to the national team since 2014, but had never been offered any support.
The scholarship gave me the facilities i needed to study and train, because i was also working before it’s also opened up new expectations and realities for me and made me believe that i had a better chance of reaching the olympic games now.
My work and determination can help me achieve these objectives, so mexico has produced countless professional world champions, as well as olympic champions, like ricardo delgado and antonio rolden, both from both of the mexico city 1968 games, for example, so with 13 medals.
Overall, it’s actually their second.
Most successful sport in olympic history, so keeping that in mind it may come as a bit of surprise, therefore, that since women’s boxing was added to the olympic program at london 2012, there have been no female competitors from mexico.
To date, the sport has continued to grow since then, and tokyo and the tokyo olympics will feature the most female boxers in history, with five weight divisions, which is two more than we saw at rio.
2016.
And it’s also interesting to note – and you know, should be kept in mind – that in japan at these olympics, mexico’s female boxers now at this point appear to be mexico’s best chance at actually uh podium, uh being on the podium after a poor show and across the Board at the 2019 pan am games, falcone and compatriot.
Brianda cruz gave mexico something to cheer about, after both bringing home bronze medals.
Their only medals at those games in boxing that is falcon believes that disorganization and a lack of proper funding for her sport at home were partially partially to blame for the disappointing results saying we cannot have high ambitions if they don’t give us preparation a decent international Standard warm-up, my federation, my coach, oscar valdez and the mayor’s office of uh huckabee milko were the ones who supported us financially.
If they hadn’t, we would have no.
We would not have had any representatives in this discipline now.
She was also given financial assistance for that particular tournament by professional mexican boxer, mariana barbie juarez, who wanted to support a future female star as well.
In september of last year.
She did contract covet 19 along with six other members of her family and was hospitalized at a precaution due to being an asthmatic, but was back on her feet a few days later, so that obviously put a bit of a bit of a hiccup in her training.
Routine, but she got right back onto the horse so to speak and started training hard falcon wants to compete in japan.
She says for something bigger than herself.
Well, many boxers are obsessed with personal glory and accolades.
She wants to improve society.
She says she wants her victories to represent all women.
She says every step that we take is going to benefit the next generation to be recognized as females together and not just talented individuals.
That’S the goal, so she also won’t cut any corners in her pursuit to reach the top of boxing, regardless of what she does achieve in 2021.
She wants to remain an amateur for at least another three years.
She says of this.
I want to compete in at least two olympic cycles.
Some say that i’ve arrived late to boxing, but i believe that i arrived at just the right time.
Yes, i want to try to be a professional, but that would be won’t come until after paris 2024.
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So it’s a boxer to keep an eye out for graham, and i think she’s gon na do big things.
She’S gon na have her work cut out for her, though, as uh heavily favored in uh that her weight category is gon na, be beatrice ferreira out of uh out of brazil, who, at this point in time, is gon na, be that is heavily favored to uh.
To go gold in this one, but i would not be surprised to see esmerelda falcon and beatrice ferreira in the end.
In the sorry, in the end of that uh gold medal, gold medal bout there we go just had a moment there at the very end.
Brain went offline briefly, that’s right! It’S cinco de mayo, i’m sure you’ve had a few tequilas.
Only one i’ve got stuff.
I got to do today, but i do have.
I do have some carnitas in the slow cooker it’ll be good, fair enough, fair enough, fair enough.
The interesting thing about what you’re saying is is uh, as i’m listening, as i’m sure everyone else, who’s listening says to themselves.
You know the one thing you have to appreciate about these olympic competitors in any sport.
They have vision like.
I have no idea where i’m going to be in four years time: yeah, let alone let alone.
Four months from now it’s a nicer studio, a nicer studio, lockdown ended in a nicer studio, is the answer.
I was gon na say little, i’m four hours from now, but anyway, um yeah you’ve got to hand it to these uh young men and women uh, who have the vision to stick to their plan and uh who want to compete not only in these olympics.
But the next olympics, if they so choose but uh this whole the covet thing.
This pregnancy issue, women’s rights, wow mind-blowing stuff, when you consider how much dedication, how much commitment is involved in in competing for an olympic sport.
So that’s what was going through my mind when, when uh you were talking yeah, i know, and we do spend a lot of time – a fair amount of time, at least on at least in this segment uh talking about female athletes uh, and i don’t think that’s Right and that one of the big reasons for that is the fact that that’s where the news is right now with respect to uh olympics and olympic boxing.
This is that you know that’s where the news stories are coming, because they are newer to the game.
Um.
You know not training, not fighting but being allowed to participate.
Now you know getting a seat at the table as it were, they are, they are new to at the table, and so this is where we are seeing new talent coming out where we hit where we were unaware of it before, but we’re also seeing new challenges That are affecting the sport as a whole and, as we start to see this sport from the female perspective, which is not a lens that we’ve been given in the past kind of thing.
So that’s where a lot of the news is coming from these days and that’s one of the reasons why we do cover uh female athletes so frequently on the show on this segment, and i will direct your attention in that regard.
To our comments, section uh, where we were being advised to have a look at the czech republic and uh one of the british competitors there lauren price, who i think, we’ve mentioned uh and her uh potential, i’m sure we just mentioned lauren briefly and uh.
We talked about who was gon na, be uh, that’s right! Who was the great britain team headed to uh tokyo? We mentioned last week, so i think lauren was mentioned on that or the female on friday.
That’S what it was.
On friday, we talked about the female competitors headed to tokyo from the great from great britain, i’m back right.
It’S one of those days, man, the brain’s, moving just half a tick faster than the mouth or slower than the mouth, see.
On that note, uh, good luck to lauren price and all the competi competitors over there in the czech republic.
It’S going to be a fantastic tournament, i’m sure christian will have a wrap up for us uh tomorrow and uh.
That about does us for today.
I’M not mistaken, i believe so all right.
Thank you very much appreciate it and thank you good listenership, good viewership, we’ll see you tomorrow.
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