Boxer Atheyna Bylon, first Olympic medal for a Panamanian woman

Paris. Boxer Atheyna Bylon lost the heavyweight (-75 kilos) final on Saturday and took silver in Paris 2024, the first Olympic medal for a Panamanian woman.

Bylon fell to China’s Li Qian, who was the clear favourite, by split decision (4-1) on the centre court of Roland Garros.

At 35 years old, this police sergeant won the fourth Olympic medal in the history of Panama and the first for a female athlete.

Before Bylon’s success, only two Panamanians had stood on an Olympic podium.

Lloyd LaBeach won two bronzes in the 100 and 200 metres at London 1948 and Irving Saladino took the country’s only gold with his victory in the long jump at Beijing 2008.

On Saturday, Bylon faced her biggest challenge of these Games against Li, determined to complete her Olympic collection that already included a silver from Tokyo 2020 and a bronze from Rio 2016.

The Chinese, who had easily won her first three fights, was able to stop Bylon’s initial momentum and counterattacked successfully to win the first round.

The Central American boxer tried to operate more cautiously in the second round but found it difficult to connect with punches to regain ground on the scorecards.

The experienced Li, 34, did generate reactions in the public every time her fists reached the Panamanian.

Bylon had to attack desperately in the final round, which was only enough for one of the five judges to see her as the winner.

Spanish Ayoub Ghadfa takes silver in the +92 kg

Meanwhile, Spanish boxer Ayoub Ghadfa suffered a clear defeat on Saturday against Uzbek Bakhodir Jalolov in the super heavyweight (+92 kg) final and took home a silver medal.

Ghadfa, who was vying to become the first Spanish Olympic boxing champion, was defeated by unanimous decision (5-0) by Jalolov, the defending champion, on the ring of the central court at Roland Garros.

Ghadfa’s silver and Enmanuel Reyes’ bronze in the heavyweight (-92 kg) category are the first two Olympic medals for Spanish boxing since Sydney 2000.

Rafael Lozano, now coach of the Spanish team, was the previous boxer from the country to reach the Olympic podium, with a bronze at Atlanta 1996 and a silver at Sydney 2000.

Spanish boxing now has three silver and three bronze medals to its name and still has the pending task of attacking the last step to gold.

Ghadfa, born in Marbella to Moroccan parents, dreamed of achieving it on a stage where Spain has celebrated as many as 14 victories by Rafael Nadal in the Parisian Grand Slam tournament.

On the Philippe-Chatrier ring, Ghadfa had achieved a spectacular victory on Wednesday over the Frenchman Djamili-Dini Aboudou, overcoming the pressure generated in favour of his rival by the 15,000 local spectators.

But on Saturday, with support in the stands relatively equal, Ghadfa came up against a much bigger opponent.

Champion at the 2020 Tokyo Games, Jalolov dominated the fight from the beginning, with passages in which he overwhelmed his rival with blows, until he achieved his second crown at the age of 30.