Claressa Shields

Claressa Shields was an American boxer who made history in 2012 by becoming the first American woman ever to win the gold medal for boxing at the Summer Olympics in London. Born and raised in the industrial town of Flint, Michigan, you might say that boxing was in Shields' blood. Her father Bo fought as an amateur in various underground clubs throughout Detroit, thus making a name for himself as one of the toughest bruisers in the state. Bo was put in jail, however, when Claressa was two, and was not released until his daughter was nine. Although the young girl showed an early interest in boxing, her father thought the sport was far too dangerous for her to learn. However, when Shields turned 11 her father buckled down and decided to teach her how to fight. Shield quickly proved herself to be a gifted boxer, winning two Junior Olympic Championships before her sixteenth birthday. With her father in her corner teaching her the fundamentals of pugilism, Shields began systematically decimating her opponents in the ring, while picking up just about every award there was for the taking. Although female boxing was still largely relegated to the sidelines, the sport was recognized by the Olympic Committee in 2012 when it became an event at that summer's games in London. Although Shields had only just turned 17, she easily qualified to compete in the world's first female boxing Olympics competition. Shields was an immediate standout in the games, crushing her competition and easily becoming the first American woman ever to win gold in boxing. Shields repeated her success two years later by taking home gold at the 2014 Boxing World Championships in South Korea; she also won the gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. With her boxing career already at a high point, in March of 2016 Shields qualified to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, thus hoping to repeat her gold medal win from four years prior.