Ukraine takes gold while Kyrgyzstan and Cape Verde secure first boxing medals at 2024 Olympics

Kateryna Skrypnyk August 14, 2024

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Ukraine takes gold while Kyrgyzstan and Cape Verde secure first boxing medals at 2024 Olympics

On 10 August, the boxing tournament of the 2024 Olympics in Paris came to an end. Ukrainian media Tribuna summarised its results with five facts about the competition: the best boxers, historical awards and one of the best positions of the Ukrainian national team in the history of the Olympic Games.

Historic tournament for Uzbekistan boxers

Uzbekistan’s men’s boxing team collected 5 gold medals at once for the first time in history. In the results table there were only two categories where gold medals were won by athletes from other countries: under 63.5kg Cuban Erislandy Alvarez won the tournament, and under 80kg – Ukrainian Oleksandr Khizhnyak.

For the Uzbekistan team, this success is a repeat. From the 2016 Olympics, they brought back 3 golds, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes, as well as the first team place. It is important to note that the result of the 2024 Olympics was a repeat of the best in the 21st century. In 2004, Cuba won the same number of gold medals. Only 3 countries have won five or more Olympic gold medals in boxing before: Great Britain in 1908, USA in 1904, 1952, 1976 and 1984, and Cuba in 1980, 1992 and 2004.

Immediately two double Olympic champions were included in Uzbekistan’s national team – Bakhodir Jalolov, winner of the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Games; and Hasanboy Dusmatov, gold medallist at the Rio 2016 and Paris 2024 Olympics. Both athletes have rich professional careers – Dusmatov’s record stands at 6-0 against Jalolov’s 14-0 record.

Boxers from Kyrgyzstan and Cape Verde won the first gold

Kyrgyzstan’s Munarbek Seitbek Uulu (pictured above) was fighting in the 57kg weight class, which also featured Ukraine’s Abduraimov, and was definitely not among the favourites. His personal trainer had no time to get accredited, and Uulu took on Cuban World Championship finalist Saidel Orta in his first fight and won 3-2.

Uulu’s next opponent was world champion Jamal Harvey of the United States, who lost 5-0 to the Kyrgyz. Ahead of that fight, Munarbek had a ticket home, but travelled to the semi-finals where he defeated Javier Ibanez Diaz of Cuba, representing Bulgaria, who had passed Ukraine’s Abduraimov in the first bout

Only Uzbekistan’s Abdumalik Khalokov stopped that winning streak in the Games final. But now Uulu, an Olympic silver medallist, is the first boxing medallist in Kyrgyz history.

Boxer David De Pena, 28, from Cape Verde, also brought his African country its first Olympic medal. He came to boxing to fight bullying. He lost at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and this year he defeated Ukraine’s Zamotayev in a qualifying tournament before reaching the semi-finals of the Games, where he lost to Hasanboy Dusmatov.

Ukraine’s gold medal

Ukraine’s men’s boxing team has one Olympic gold medal, and the country’s team ranking is one of the best in the tournament’s history. Most were confident in Oleksandr Khizhnyak’s victory, other honours would have been considered an achievement. And Khizhnyak managed to get the coveted gold medal by judges’ split decision with the score 2:3.

Top 5 teams of the boxing tournament of the 2024 Olympics in Paris

Position	Countries	Award number
1	Uzbekistan	5 gold
2	China	3 gold, 2 silver
3	Chinese Taipei	1 gold, 2 bronze
4	Cuba	1 gold, 1 bronze
5	Ukraine, Algeria and Ireland	1 gold each