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October 4, 2005
IN THE NEWS...
Female boxers anxious to join Olympic ranks
By JAMES CHRISTIE
The bell can't ring soon enough for Canada's female boxers, waiting to mix it up in an Olympic ring.
After a four-medal performance at the women's world championships, capped by a gold medal in the 66 kilogram class for Mary Spencer of Windsor, Ont., Canadian boxing officials are eager to hear whether women's boxing will be added to the Olympic sports program for the London Games in 2012 or even as early as the Beijing Games in 2008.
"We're definitely hoping it will be allowed at least on a demonstration basis in Beijing," said Robert Crête, the executive director of Boxing Canada. "Right now, it sits with the International Olympic Committee."
Both IOC president Jacques Rogge and International Boxing Association president Anwar Chowdhry have supported the idea of putting women on the Olympic boxing card. Boxing is the only sport in the Summer Games that is closed to female athletes.
However, the IOC doesn't want to increase the overall number of athletes at the Games, and so some international boxing officials have suggested an approach similar to the one used in wrestling when women's events were introduced at Athens. A number of men's wrestling weight classes were consolidated to make space for women's classes.
Crête said that would not be satisfactory in boxing, "so Canada would be willing to look at the possibility of women's boxing being part of the Winter Olympics. We're asking the international federation to look at all avenues of getting women's boxing into the Games."
Olympic status would mean federal support for the 1,000 women who box competitively in Canada. Because there is no formal recognition of women's boxing by Sport Canada now, there is only a nominal amount of $25,000 a year available for the women's boxing program. Athletes are not included in the carding system and pick up most of their own expenses.
"Women's boxing is growing, with most of the participants in Quebec," Crête said. "But there's been no federal funding for them, and when we have to make cuts and save money, our female program has been the victim."
Spencer, 20, is the third Canadian woman to win a world amateur championship, joining past champs Jennifer Ogg of London, Ont., and Crystelle Sampson of Quebec City.
"I've dreamed about this for as long as I've been boxing," Spencer told The Canadian Press. The six-foot boxer pounded out a 28-21 victory last Sunday against Russian Irina Sinezkaya, the home favourite supported by the crowd in Podolsk, Russia.
"I imagined what it would be like to be here, and how it would feel to win. I came into this tournament knowing that I gave my all in training and if someone was going to beat me, they would have to just be a lot better than me. They wouldn't win because they were in better shape or because they trained harder."
Ariane Fortin of Quebec City took the silver medal in the 57 kg final, losing 37-22 to Olga Slavinskaya of Russia. Sandra Bizier of Montreal at 57 kg and Katie Dunn of Windsor at 63 kg each got a bronze medal as the losing semi-finalists.
Spencer's coach, Charlie Stewart, wants her to hold off turning professional, and the fighter herself wants more experience, hopefully in an Olympic uniform before making the jump.
"Mary would make an excellent pro, but she's only 20 and there's plenty of time," Stewart said. "Our objective is to get carded and go to the Olympics. She doesn't even know how good she can become. Winning this tournament will help. Before long, she'll be ready for the top pros in the world."
Spencer won't be the only Canadian content when she gets to the pro ranks. Hamilton's Jessica Rakoczy turned pro five years ago when there was no prospect of women boxing in the Olympics. She used to spar with hockey enforcer Marty McSorley to learn the craft, but then set up camp in Las Vegas and worked her way up to the women's lightweight pro title.
She is featured in the provocative CTV documentary Girls Don't Fight, which will premiere on Saturday. The hour-long show, narrated by Canadian actress Sandra Oh, examines the careers of wrestler Lyndsay Belisle, who got her Olympic chance in Athens, and Rakoczy, who fights to gain some validity for her sport in a town where most women
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