Olympic Youth Games 2018 – final results
October 19, 2018 | by Matt Halfpenny
It was a great final day yesterday in Argentina, with our boxers winning all three bouts. This means that all four boxers came away with a medal and three won gold.
This puts GB level with Russia for golds won and edged into second overall by virtue of Russia winning a silver compared to our bronze – an amazing achievement!
On a wider scale, Team GB finished 19th on the medal table with 12 medals in total. Boxing contributed a third of these medals and won the only gold medals for Team GB, so we can be proud of the significant contribution our boxers are making to the overall team.
64kg Bronze medal box off – Hassan Azim v Mohammed Boulaouja (Morocco) – won RSC Rd2
A blistering start to the bout by Hassan who was determined to clinch the bronze medal up for grabs in this contest. Hassan used his reach advantage to land well timed 1-2 combinations which landed on the target and the referee delivered a standing 8 count…and after the fourth one during the 2nd round he called a halt to the bout in favour of Team GB’s Youth Olympic Bronze medalist.
81kg Final – Karol Itauma v Ruslan Kolesnikov (Russia) – won 4:1
Facing an old foe in the Russian who is reigning European and World Champion was always going to be a tough task. However Karol stepped into the ring full of self-belief that he was ready to produce the performance of his life…and he did just that. Karol started the bout with fantastic timed long range punches and magnificent defences to get ahead on the judges scorecards in both the first and second rounds. The 3rd round was a tight affair with both boxers giving it their all for the last three minutes. It was Karol’s early hard work he put into the early rounds that proved to be the deciding factor in today’s amazing victory as he was announced the Youth Olympic Champion.
Karol told the BBC after his win that he’s “over the moon” and that he “only had one thing on my mind and that was that gold medal.”
Catch Karol’s interview with the BBC here – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/boxing/45908426
60kg Final – Caroline Dubois v Porntip Buapa (Thailand) – won 5:0
With the final bout of the day and the last medal in all the sports up for grabs, this was to be Caroline’s day. She put in a tremendous performance in all three rounds to continue her unbeaten run and earned herself a place on the top of the podium – crowned Youth Olympic Champion.
Caroline told the BBC after her win; “It was an amazing atmosphere and I loved every minute of it.”
Catch Caroline’s interview with the BBC here – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/boxing/45908430
Overall summary by the BBC – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/45909060
