It could be a case of Golden Delicious for the United Kingdom at Paris 2024 after further heavyweight glory was captured at the European Games.
GB Boxing will return from the 2023 event in Poland with four medals. Three boxers qualified for the Olympic Games next year after a dramatic final day of action saw Delicious Orie crowned super-heavyweight (92kg+) champion in the last bout of the competition.
Competing in the Team GB vest, Orie defeated Azerbaijan’s Mahammed Abdullayev unanimously to win the gold.
He maintains Great Britain’s superb record in the super-heavyweight division, where it has won a medal at each of the last four Olympic Games.
Golden Delicious at heavyweight
Orie’s performance in Poland means he has secured a place at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, where he will be joined by bantamweight (54kg), Charley Davison, and welterweight (66kg), Rosie Eccles, who both won bronze medals in their respective weight categories.
Sunderland’s Kiaran MacDonald also won a bronze medal in the men’s flyweight (51kg) category. However, this was not enough to secure qualification for Paris, as only two Olympic places were offered in his weight class.
Two other Olympic qualification events will be held in early 2024 when MacDonald and his colleagues in GB Boxing can secure a place in Paris.
The ten weight classes where boxers still have an opportunity to qualify to represent Team GB in Paris are:
MEN: flyweight (51kg); featherweight (57kg); light-welterweight (63.5kg); light-middleweight (71kg); light-heavyweight (80kg) and heavyweight (92kg).
WOMEN: light-flyweight (50kg), featherweight (57kg), lightweight (60kg), and middleweight (75kg).
Orie’s victory makes him the second British super-heavyweight to stand on top of the podium at the European Games. The success comes after Joe Joyce won gold at Baku in 2015.
Other previous European Games gold medallists from the GB Boxing squad include Nicola Adams from 2015 and Lauren Price and Pat McCormack from 2019 in Minsk.
Those boxers subsequently went on to win gold or silver at the following Olympic Games.
Delicious Orie
Delicious Orie said: “It means everything to me. I got the qualification the other day. Now the icing on the cake is a gold medal.
“But I can’t put into words what I’ve achieved. I don’t know what to say, except hard work pays off.
“It has not come easy. I have had five fights against some top guys. It’s only given me more confidence. People will expect me to do the same at the Olympic Games.
“I’ve got a year to polish my skills, improve, and keep building momentum.
“A couple of years ago, if someone would have told me I’d have achieved all this, I’d have told them it was a huge ask.
“Getting on the GB Boxing team and seeing the level of boxers they have produced and the medals they have won cemented my confidence.
“I believe in myself. I believe in the coaches, and I think in GB Boxing. And as a result, we’re winning more medals.
“I hope that this will inspire the next generation. The next super-heavyweight or next female champion, whoever it is, to go out there and dominate the scene. That’s what this is all about.
Rob McCracken
Summing up the team’s performance at the European Games, GB Boxing’s Performance Director Rob McCracken said: “The European Games has provided valuable experience for our group of boxers.
“There have been some good performances, especially from our four medallists. Others didn’t get to the medal stages and have shown real potential at this level.
“It’s great for GB Boxing that Charley has become a two-time Olympian after some good performances. Likewise, Rosie has boxed very well to secure her place in Paris 2024.
“Delicious has also done exceptionally well to come through five contests against top opponents to secure qualification and win a gold medal.
Kiaran has also done well to earn a medal. Unfortunately, he couldn’t qualify on this occasion, but this experience will stand him in good stead as we look ahead to next year.
“The four medals are a great achievement and a solid indicator of where the squad is at in the current cycle.
“With two more qualifying opportunities around the corner, we look forward to working with the rest of the squad to fulfill their potential and secure more Olympic quota places.”
