SportsAsToldByAGirl Spotlight: Claressa Shields

As the Olympics creep closer and closer, Team USA athletes are gaining more publicity as they get ready to compete in Rio. While the gymnastics and swimming teams receive a lot of attention, this year other sports are attracting many viewers. This week’s spotlight will be the Olympic boxer, Claressa Shields. At only age 21, Shields is already competing in her second Olympic games and is seen as one of the greatest female boxers currently.

In comparison to a lot of other Olympic athletes, Shields is a newcomer. She began boxing when she was 11 years old after being introduced to the sport by her father at age nine. What triggered Shields’ love for the sport was her father telling her about Laila Ali. At age 11, Shields was given permission by her father to compete in boxing. After qualifying for the Olympic trials, Shields went on to beat three of the best female boxers in the world and move on to the next step.

According to Olympic rules, Shields would have to finish in the top two for the Americas in the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. The rule had previously stated that Shields had to finish in the top 10 but the rule change didn’t bother her. She would eventually go on to qualify and would beat Nadezda Torlopova, winning a gold medal for the United States.

In 2014, she won a gold medal at World Championships and in 2015, Shields would become the first woman to win gold at the Olympics and the Pan American games. Even before making it to Rio, she has already won gold at the World Champions and won gold to qualify for the Olympics this year. In addition to her busy boxing career, Shields posed for the ESPN Body Issue this year too.

In her ESPN Body Issue interview, she spoke about the hardships of growing up including being sexually violated at a young age but using that terrible experience to become a better boxer. She was able to channel all of her anger and pain into boxing. She credits boxing as a way to get in touch with her feminity and it’s still transforming her into who she is.

Her attitude in the ring is special too, “I fight everyone like they are the world champion. I always feel like I’m the underdog, and that’s what makes me fight harder.” Her philosophy is one that I feel not a lot of athletes employ because they see like to feel that they are the best at their sport and no one is better. It  shows the effort she puts into each match. It is working for as she has a career record of 68 wins to just 1 loss.

Shield’s main goal isn’t to become an Olympian or even a world champion. Her goal is simple and it is “to go down in history as the best women’s fighter who ever lived.”  Her mentality is extremely similar to that of the late Muhammad Ali. She knows that she’s a different type of boxer compared to other female boxers and she celebrates that, which is the true mark of any champion. If you see the name Claressa Shields attached with one of the greatest boxers, not just female, but boxers of all time, it will be rightfully deserved.