The British boxers looking to bring home Olympic gold

After three Olympic boxing qualifiers during a year of pain, a dozen broken hearts, bad decisions, tears, sweat and blood, the first bell for the British boxers at Paris 2024 is finally close.

- STEVE BUNCE

Six members of the Team GB squad will be in Friday's draw for the preliminary bouts in the 13 weights that are spread across 14 days of boxing. No other Olympic sport competes over the same number of days.

It is a mixed squad, a small squad compared to those from the last three Olympic boxing tournaments; the cycle has only been three years and since winning six medals in Tokyo in 2021, 10 of the team of 11 have turned professional. There are other reasons that British boxers will only be competing in six of the 13 weights in Paris, but too often the valid obstructions and distractions can sound like excuses; there are no excuses, it is hard to qualify for the Olympics.

In 1996 and 2000 just two went, in 2004 it was just one; the packed squads from the last three Games have given a false impression that simply pulling on the vest was enough to get a golden ticket to the greatest platform in sport. In Tokyo, three short summers ago, the GB boxers shared the top spot for medals with the Russians, beating the mighty Cubans by one.