The miracle of Spanish boxing at the Paris Olympic Games

Spanish boxing seeks to hit hard at Olympic Games in Paris with record representation, with six representatives, the largest number of fighters classified since 1992 Games in Barcelonafive men and one woman, for the first time in history Spanish boxing will have a female representative, since women’s boxing joined the Olympic program in London 2012. Four Spanish boxers entered Tokyo 2020 and the objective of the Spanish delegation in Paris is clear: to win a medal that improves the three Olympic diplomas from Tokyo, with the desire to hang a medal around our neck, which has not been achieved since then. Sydney 2000including the current national coach’s silver, Rafael Lozano.

A goal they will fight for José Quiles (-57 kilos, 26 years old), Enmanuel Reyes Pla (-92 kilos, 31 years old), Oier Ibarreche (-63.5 kilos, 21 years old), Rafa Lozano Jr (-51 kilos, 19 years old), Ayoub Ghadfa (+92 kilos, 25 years old) and Laura Fuertes (-50 kilos, 23 years old), coming to endorse the good work done by the Spanish Boxing Federation. “Having qualified six athletes is a great achievement, because the reorganization of the competition made it difficult to match the data from Tokyo. We have the first Olympic woman, men repeating, an athlete like Ayoub Ghadfa at the weight not favorable to Spanish boxing and two young people who are safe assets for the next Olympic cycle but surprised by their competition in Bangkok. The key is the great cohesion that has achieved and we must also highlight the great technical team, led by Rafa Lozano,” he explained to MD. Felipe Martinez, president of the Federation, who is confident that there will be a good harvest in Paris. “Everyone is motivated and feels that they have options, although I think that being there with five men and one woman is already an achievement. It will be a very difficult tournament, but we will fight to bring a medal.”

And that is something to be proud of. Spanish boxing achieved historic representation. To begin with, with the first Olympic boxer, who should pave the way for others in the future, and with a group of men who combine youth – with athletes who exploded earlier than expected, like Oier and Rafa , who gave their youth. , is ‘expected’ for 2028 – and seniority – with better boxers, like Reyes or Quiles, who have already been to Tokyo -, with great joy like Laura and personal bets like Ayoub, after see the national coach in the wilderness Spanish Elite Championships and despite losing he decided to bet on her.

A SPORT THAT CONTINUALLY GROWS

The historic presence of six representatives in the Paris ring is not a product of chance, but of the good work that RFEBox has been doing for many years, a fact that can be seen in the numbers, with 21,812 licenses (athletes, coaches) that there were in 2023 – down from 14,957 in 2022– and of the 19,649 boxers registered last year, in 2022 there were 13,223. The growth is obvious. There are several keys that have contributed to the good health of Spanish amateur boxing. The national team has increased its resources, with contributions from the State, and the resources obtained by RFEBox, which translates into more tournaments, concentrations and athletes in the team. The second key is the commitment to investment and collaboration with quarry. For example, there was a lot of fighting to get school-age boxing approved, which is key to spotting talent. And the third part of the table is the technical team. Rafa Lozano gets historic results and has luxurious assistants, such as Ernesto Aroche and Esteban Cuéllar, of Cuban origin

Spain the European country that will have the most male boxers in Paris, with five qualifying out of a possible seven. To measure the success of success, it should be remembered that Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan will have seven men – one in each category – and Australia six, tied with Cuba (5), United States, France and Ireland (4) and Britain either Italy there are 3.

The Spanish team is concentrated until tomorrow with other teams in Sierra Nevada car. Next week he will be in Madrid and on July 7 he will begin a concentration in France, where he will go to the Olympic Village.