Shields Becomes 1st American Boxer With 2 Gold Medals

Shields Becomes 1st American Boxer With 2 Gold Medals
United States' Claressa Maria Shields displays her gold medals - from London and from Rio - for the women's middleweight 75-kg boxing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
The Associated Press
8/21/2016
Updated:
8/21/2016

RIO DE JANEIRO—Claressa Shields won her second Olympic boxing gold medal Sunday, becoming the first American to win gold in two games.

Shields dominated the first women’s boxing tournament in London and was again the class of the middleweight division in Rio. The 21-year-old Flint, Michigan, native beat Netherlands fighter Nouchka Fontijn by unanimous decision in convincing fashion.

Shields shook and shimmied before she took her triumphant step on the medal stand. She raised her arms in victory, then pulled her 2012 London Games gold medal out of her jacket pocket and placed it around her neck.

United States' Claressa Maria Shields (R) fights Netherlands' Nouchka Fontijn during a women's middleweight 75-kg final boxing match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
United States' Claressa Maria Shields (R) fights Netherlands' Nouchka Fontijn during a women's middleweight 75-kg final boxing match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

She sang along to the national anthem, then held up both gold medals for all to see.

Shields kicked off the first of four medal bouts on the final day of the tournament that quickly turned into doubles action.

Shields showed off her two golds. Uzbekistan won two golds. And Sunday capped double gold for the first couple of the Olympic boxing tournament.

French fighter Tony Yoka joined fiancee Estelle Mossely as gold medal winners, defeating Britain’s Joe Joyce in a super heavyweight bout.

Mossely won lightweight gold on her 24th birthday on Friday and was in the stands shouting encouragement for Yoka.

United States' Claressa Maria Shields celebrates at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
United States' Claressa Maria Shields celebrates at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

She left her seat and rushed toward the stairs before pausing on the steps to hear the decision announced to the crowd. Mossely took off and made a golden leap into Yoka’s massive arms, just as she did after her victory. Only this time, it was Yoka in the boxing vest and trunks and off to the medal stand for a matching gold of his own.

Uzbekistan boxer Shakhobidin Zoirov defeated Russian Misah Aloian by unanimous decision to win flyweight gold. The 23-year-old Zoirov was hoisted on the shoulders of one of his corner men and paraded around the ring in a victory celebration. He dropped the first round to Aloian before he rebounded to sweep the scorecards over the final two rounds.

Aloian covered his face with his hands and sobbed on the medal stand after settling for silver.

Fazliddin Gaibnazarov defeated Azerbaijan Lorenzo Sotomayor in the light welterweight final to become the third Uzbekistan boxer to win gold in the games. Uzbekistan had just one gold ever in the Olympics. Gaibnazarov’s split decision victory made it gold in two straight bouts for Uzbekistan following Zoirov’s victory.

Sotomayor was crushed in defeated and needed help out of the arena by his coach and other members of his corner.

Shields was fantastic in her repeat bid.

She rocked Fontijn with a thunderous right to the face in the second round then gestured to her shaken foe to come fight in the fourth. Fontijn offered little resistance and the round served as little more than a coronation for the American face of women’s boxing.

With the medal hers, Shields raised her arms toward her friends and family in the stands after the third round. She performed a cartwheel in the ring, then took a victory lap with the American flag on her back.