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Olympic

Boxing was not included in the Athens Games (1896) as the City Organisers felt boxing to be 'ungentlemanly, dangerous and practised by the dregs of society"!  However boxing was introduced at the 1904 St Louis (USA) Olympic Games.  All (24) boxers were american and boxed at (7) weight categories.  Oliver Kirk won both the bantam weight (54kg) and feather-weight (57kg) Gold medals!  There was also demonstration of female boxing at these Games

The 1908 London (Great Britain) Olympic Games witnessed (42) boxers (of which (30) were from Great Britain) and representatives from (7) countries (including Australia, Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales).  The Great Britain team won (5) Gold, (4) Silver an (7) Bronze medals across the (7) weight categories.

There was no boxing unfortunately at the Stockholm (Sweden) Olympic Games (1912) as there was no Swedish ABA at the time to organise the event.  The next Olympic Games did not take place until (1920) hosted by the Belgium City of Antwerp.  At these Games (8) weight categories were contested for the first time. The 1920 Games witnessed Harry Mallin (Eton Old Boys ABC) and R. Rawson (Polytechnic ABC) become Olympic Champions.  Also Great Britain won (1) Silver medal and (3) boxers won Bronze.  

The 1924 Paris (France) Olympic Games saw Great Britain won (2) Gold medals (Harry Mallin, Eton Manor ABC and Harry Mitchell, Polytechnic ABC).  At the 1924 Games Harry Mallin won his second Olympic Championship.  A tremendous achievement.

The 1928 Olympic Games (Amsterdam. Holland) teams were limited, for the first time, to one boxer per weight category for the very first time.  The Olympics have continued to develop.  In the 1952 Helsinki Games (Finland) Bronze medals were for the first time awarded to both losing semi-finalists however Great Britain was again unsuccessful in the medal stakes.  It was the 1956 Melbourne (Australia) Olympic Games that Great Britain was to win its next Gold Medal.  A long wait.

In 1992 the Barcelona Games (Spain) boxers for the first time had to 'qualify' from World Zones.  This has fundamentally changed the form of the Olympic Games for amateur boxing.  In today's Olympic's the route to securing a place is both difficult and challenging.  A boxer must 'qualify' from the 'European pool'.  This 'pool' consists of around 50 nations and includes countries such as:

Only 8 boxers proceed to qualify for the Olympics (from the European 'pool') in each of the now (11) weight categories.  An Olympic medal remains the highest award in the sport of amateur boxing.  Being selected for the Olympics is a great personal honour and recognition of the efforts of the coaches and officials of individual amateur boxing clubs.  The ABA of England wishes to formally record its appreciation, and to honour the commitment of athletes and their dedication to the sport.