Deontay Wilder's Bronze Is USA's Only Boxing Medal in Disappointing Olympics

Posted Aug 24, 2008 8:20AM By Michael David Smith (RSS feed)

Filed Under: USA

From start to finish, it was a disappointing Olympic Games for the U.S. boxing team, and when it's all said and done, only one boxer -- heavyweight Deontay Wilder, who won a bronze -- will bring home a medal.

The 6-foot-7, 200-pound Wilder should be proud of his effort, and he represents a very rare thing in the United States: A big, athletic guy who decided to be a boxer instead of a football or basketball player. I don't think he's ever going to be heavyweight champion of the world, but we're a country with so few good heavyweights that we have to be pleased by what Wilder accomplished.

But the U.S. had several boxers other than Wilder who expected to bring home medals, including 112-pounder Rau'shee Warren, 119-pounder Gary Russell Jr., and 152-pounder Demetrius Andrade. They all come home empty handed.

Bad judging and rules changes have made Olympic boxing a much less compelling sport than it once was, but as long as it's an Olympic sport at all, it would be nice to see the U.S. field a competitive team. It didn't happen this year.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-24-2008 @ 10:16AM

Billebones said...

I take my hat off and cheer for all the members of the USA and Brazilian Olympic team Members, for their dedication and time spent training and working to achieve the Best in the competition. I am proud of you all winners and non winners of medals alike hold your heads high

8-24-2008 @ 12:01PM

Randolley said...

The Olympics are a joke. The Chinese were given gold medals they did not deserve. The Boxing Officials did not know how to score the fighting. The scoring was terrible. And the Basketball Officials made calls when they felt like it. A player gets mugged and there is no call. But if you tried to steal the ball it was a foul. The US team was getting beaten up by the Spanish players but the US players got the foul calls. I was at the 88 Olympics where a lot of the foreign female athletes looked like men(Adams Apple) and I saw Flo-Jo and Ben Johnson. The 2008 Olympics is worse. Those Chinese girls did not have starter breast. That is a child. The Chinese will continue to screw the US at ever chance it gets. And that includes Exports.

8-24-2008 @ 11:43AM

psychman73 said...

I will NOT donate nor support the US Olympics boxing program until the entire coaching staff is fired and replaced with Olympic-style boxing coaches. We were so pathetic I was embarrassed to hear them mention of the U.S. Our boxers seemed to be stark amateurs, dragged in off the streets with a promise of a free trip to China. Latino boxers were almost totally absent, white boxers were absent, and what was left was a group of fools who had no more idea how to engage in Olympic rules of boxing than their coaches. Olympic boxing sucks! It encourages hit, cover, and clinch. No matter, it's the rule and if we are going to be represented we have to change.

8-25-2008 @ 7:38AM

This was the worst judging in the history of Sports. People were getting hit in the head and no points were given. Sometimes the points never changed and people were smacking the poop out of each other. The Boxing, the underage girls and the Basketball officials took away from the honesty of sports. I will never watch any Olympic games. Oh, and I don't think teams are gonna stop using people who are not from their Country. The Olympic Spirit is gone. I didn't see any Negroes in China. Are they banned from that Country? No, they probably live way up in the mountains and can't come down. A Negro played Basketball for Russia and he is from the USA. Come on China, get with the program. Yall do have Fried Rice don't you?

8-25-2008 @ 5:02PM

JudKast said...

We should be proud of all our athletes, win or lose that competed. It is not only those that won medals - of course there is congratulations to them, they will receive the accolades they deserve; but more important - to all those that did their best. All the athletes, no matter in what they competed in and also where they finished in their events should be given praise for participating. It is the fact that the Olympics on the most part are and should be more - an amatuer participation event to retain its purity in form, dedication of the athlete to his/her event and the fact that they strived to attain their best - no matter what the results. HAIL TO ALL THE ATHLETES - THANK YOU FOR THRILLING US.