PARIS: China’s women boxers have made an Olympic breakthrough in Paris with their first golds in a sport that was once banned under Mao Zedong. Women’s boxing made its Olympic debut at London 2012 and after some near-misses, China struck gold this week with three titles in as many days at Roland Garros.

On Thursday, Chang Yuan clinched the 54kg crown and 24 hours later it was the turn of Wu Yu as she prevailed at 50kg. Then on Saturday, on the last night of boxing in the French capital, Li Qian won gold at 75kg.

Also boasting two silvers, it made China easily the most successful women’s boxing team at the Games. Wu’s performance on Friday at Roland Garros, usually home to Grand Slam tennis but hosting boxing to sell-out 15,000 crowds, was particularly eye-catching.

The 29-year-old was booed at the end of a bout in which she defeated Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu on points by means both fair and sometimes foul. In the third round Wu, who is tied to China’s military, had a point deducted and infuriated the Turkish boxer’s corner with some of her underhand tactics.

It included punching Cakiroglu on one buttock when the Turk was facing the opposite way and her head hanging through the ropes. Wu later called it an “unfortunate accident”. We will never know what Mao, the founder of communist China who banned boxing for being too violent, would have made of the scene.

“I have trained very hard and all that hard work paid off,” said Wu, who has previously been described as being a sergeant in the military. The Olympic debutant adds gold to the world title and Asian Games crowns she won last year. Chinese media compared her to Zou Shiming, the men’s two-time Olympic champion in 2008 and 2012 and for many years the country’s best-known boxer. It is no coincidence — Wu was once under the tutelage of Zou’s former coach.

‘Goddess of the Ring’

China’s success in Paris has been years in the making. At London 2012, when there were only three women’s weight categories, China won a silver and a bronze. In 2016 that tally edged up to a silver and two bronzes.

Then at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where there were five weight divisions, China took home two silvers. Chang’s victory on Thursday, also over a Turkish fighter, was particularly celebrated back home not only because it was China’s first women’s boxing gold, but also because of her warm and engaging personality.

She first made a name for herself on the international stage by winning Youth Olympic Games gold a decade ago. The 27-year-old was dubbed the “Goddess of the Boxing Ring” by Chinese media after her historic gold in the French capital.Giving an insight into how China women’s boxing has got to where it is now, she got into the sport when her home province formed a boxing team in preparation for London 2012. She came from a family that practiced martial arts, then she took up taekwondo, before settling on boxing because “the boxers looked so cool”.

And then there is the relentless demands of training she has gone through ever since defeat in the second round at Tokyo three years ago. Training was so gruelling in the past three years that on some days it felt like “peeling a layer off my skin”, she told state media. — AFP