{"id":787,"date":"2015-10-16T04:48:42","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T04:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/?p=787"},"modified":"2021-01-16T09:59:06","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T09:59:06","slug":"worlds-first-female-olympic-gold-boxing-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/?p=787","title":{"rendered":"WORLD CHAMPION, FIRST AMERICAN FEMALE OLYMPIC GOLD BOXING CHAMPION"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Weight class: <\/strong>Middleweight\/165 lbs
\nHometown: <\/strong>Flint, Michigan
\nBirthdate: <\/strong>March 17, 1995
\nHeight: <\/strong>5-9
\nBegan boxing: <\/strong>At age 11 after hearing about Laila Ali from her father
\nThe baby of the team: <\/strong>Claressa won the Olympic Trials at 16 and was 17 when she won Olympic gold
\nHistory maker: <\/strong>Claressa won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the middleweight division, becoming the first American female to become an Olympic champion
\nYouth over experience: <\/strong>Claressa defeated an opponent nearly twice her age in her final bout at the Olympic Games to win gold.
\nDid you know:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

2015 PAN AM GAMES CHAMPION
\n2015 USA BOXING NATIONAL CHAMPION
\n2014 WORLD CHAMPION
\n2014 PAN AMERICAN OLYMPIC FESTIVAL CHAMPION
\n<\/strong>2014 USA BOXING NATIONAL CHAMPION
\n<\/strong>2013 YOUTH WORLD CHAMPION
\n<\/strong>2013 USA BOXING YOUTH NATIONAL CHAMPION
\n<\/strong>2012 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST
\n<\/strong>2013 USA BOXING YOUTH NATIONAL CHAMPION
\n<\/strong>2012 WOMEN\u2019S CONTINENTAL CHAMPION
\n<\/strong>2012 U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS CHAMPION AND OUTSTANDING BOXER
\n<\/strong>2011 NATIONAL PAL CHAMPION
\n<\/strong>2011 JUNIOR OLYMPIC NATIONAL CHAMPION<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seventeen-year-old Claressa Shields enjoyed an eventful summer prior to starting her senior year in high school. The Flint Northwestern High School senior made history simply advancing to the London Games, the first-ever in the sport of women\u2019s boxing. The event was a culmination of years of work for she and her lifetime trainer, Jason Crutchfield, but just earning a berth at the Olympic Games wasn\u2019t enough for this teenager. She wanted nothing but gold and with three strong wins in London, she accomplished her goal.<\/p>\n

Shields took up boxing as an 11-year-old after hearing her father talk about Laila Ali. She initially thought he wanted her to box but quickly learned after asking for his permission that he wasn\u2019t exactly keen on the idea. He eventually came around after a family vote with Shields\u2019 stepmother, and she\u2019s been a force to reckon with ever since.<\/p>\n

A proud Flint native, Shields wanted badly to bring something positive to her hometown, which hasn\u2019t had much to celebrate recently. She understands the importance of being a role model to the young people in her community and has been overwhelmed by the unbelievable outpouring of support she has received since returning from London with her gold medal.<\/p>\n

She was welcomed at the airport by over 500 well-wishers and can\u2019t go anywhere in her hometown without being stopped for photos and autographs and she refuses to disappoint anyone. Since returning from London, she has had quite the schedule. The 17-year-old has been honored on the floor of the Michigan State Senate, introduced Vice President Joe Biden, and presented the Liberty medal to boxing icon Muhammad Ali. She attempts to fulfill every autograph and picture request but is still adjusting to everything that comes with her success.<\/p>\n

Shields became the first member of her family to graduate from high school in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weight class: Middleweight\/165 lbs Hometown: Flint, Michigan Birthdate: March 17, 1995 Height: 5-9 Began boxing: At age 11 after hearing about Laila Ali from her father The baby of the team: Claressa won the Olympic Trials at 16 and was 17 when she won Olympic gold History maker: Claressa won the first-ever Olympic gold medal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ampsmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Claressa-Shields.jpg?fit=986%2C555&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}