Canadian two-time Olympic boxer Mandy Bujold confirmed on Wednesday that she would be leaving the ring.
The 34-year-old Kitchener, Ontario, said before the Tokyo Olympics he planned to retire afterward. Now, it’s official.
“As an athlete, I’m always so focused on the next big event that many times I don’t even realize how big some of my achievements are,” Bujold, an 11-time national champion, wrote in a Twitter post.
“Now that I’m starting to think outside the boxing ring, I can really appreciate the journey I’ve been on and all the incredible parts that come with it.”
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Bujold, who won the national junior title in 2006, made his Olympic debut a decade later in Rio. He finished fifth, dropping his quarter-final bout after spending the previous night in hospital with an illness that caused him to lose five pounds overnight.
While Bujold’s second Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020 resulted in only a 17th-place finish, Canada’s journey just to compete in Japan was a win in itself.
Win the legal battle to compete in Tokyo
During 2018 and part of 2019, Bujold — who ranks second in the world — didn’t compete after giving birth to his daughter Kate Olympia — or a knockout. But when the pandemic hit, the sport’s international federations changed the Olympic qualifying criteria to cover that timeframe, leaving Bujold out.
Bujold fought the decision, garnering support from the likes of Billie Jean King, Hayley Wickenheiser and Lennox Lewis along the way. Finally, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in Bujold’s favor, implementing rules to ensure the International Olympic Committee counts women who are pregnant or have recently given birth in the qualifying standards.
Bujold says there’s a documentary about the whole ordeal in the works.
He had mixed feelings about Tokyo.
“My goal has always been to win that Olympic medal, because I know I was very close to that in Rio, I know I can do that,” he said.
“But it seemed like there were hurdles after hurdles, hurdles after hurdles that prevented me from really being able to show what I was capable of on that stage. This is something as an athlete that will always be behind me. my mind. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about it.”
Intend to stay involved in sports
With her performance in Tokyo, Bujold also became the first Canadian woman to box at two Olympics.
His career has also included gold at the Pan Am Games in 2011 and 2015, and bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Although no longer competing, Bujold said he still intends to train and stay involved in the sport.
“I’m done with fighting in every sense of the word,” he said. “The fight I had in court, it took everything from me. It took everything. It kind of sealed it for me.”
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