Mandy Bujold

Mandy Bujold
Bujold interviewed in a car in 2018
Personal information
Full nameMandy Marie Brigitte Bujold
Born (1987-07-25) 25 July 1987 (age 37)
Cobourg, Ontario, Canada
Height160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Weight51 kg (112 lb)
WebsiteMandyBujold.com
Sport
SportBoxing
Weight classFlyweight
Medal record
Women's amateur boxing
Representing  Canada
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2011 Guadalajara Flyweight
Gold medal – first place 2015 Toronto Flyweight
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Glasgow Flyweight

Mandy Marie Brigitte Bujold[1] (born 25 July 1987)[2] is a Canadian former amateur boxer. She won gold medals in the women's flyweight category at the 2011 and 2015 Pan American Games and won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics and competed at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Career

Bujold was coached by the late Adrian Teodorescu, who had previously coached Lennox Lewis.[3] Bujold has won the Canadian National Championships on 11 occasions.[4][5] In 2006, she won the Canadian Junior National Championships.[6]

Bujold made her first senior international appearance at the 2008 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships.[6] She won a gold medal in the women's flyweight category at the 2011 Pan American Games.[7] She was not selected for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[8] At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Bujold won a bronze medal,[2][9] after losing to Briton Nicola Adams in the semi-finals.[10] In the same year, Bujold finished fourth at the 2014 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships.[6] She won another gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games.[11][12] She was critical of a proposal to remove head protection for amateur boxers, and at one point, she threatened to retire if the rule was enacted.[13]

In July 2016, she was officially named to Canada's Olympic team,[14] after having won the Olympic qualifying event in Buenos Aires in March 2016.[15] She was one of three Canadian boxers at the Games and was considered Canada's best boxing medal prospect.[16] During the Games, she was hospitalized for one night[5] with gastroenteritis. She lost 2 kilograms (4.4 lb) of liquid from her body.[17] She lost in the quarter-finals of the competition,[5] having only left the hospital two hours before the fight commenced.[17] Following the Games, she took some time away from boxing.[18] She withdrew from selection for the 2018 Commonwealth Games after being told that she would need to live in Montreal;[19] she had previously been selected in the squad.[20]

In December 2019, Bujold won the Canadian Olympic qualification tournament.[4] She was scheduled to participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics qualification event in May 2021 before the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] As a result, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose to instead consider results from 2018 and 2019, which meant that Bujold was not considered, as she had been pregnant and on maternity leave during that period.[21][5] Bujold, supported by Canadian Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), and Boxing Canada, appealed to the IOC to reconsider this decision but received no reply.[21] Bujold appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS); on 30 June 2021, CAS awarded her a place at the Games.[21][5] The court ruled that the qualification system must accommodate pregnant or postpartum women during the qualification period.[21] The COC released a statement supporting the CAS outcome.[5][21] At the Games, Bujold lost her first-round match to Serbian Nina Radovanović.[22]

Bujold announced her retirement from boxing after the 2020 Summer Olympics.[4]

Personal life

Bujold was born in Cobourg, Ontario,[2] and now lives in Kitchener, Ontario.[21] Aside from boxing, she has worked for Communitech.[19] In November 2018, her daughter was born.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Biography". MandyBujold.com. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Mandy Bujold". Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Boxing coach Adrian Teodorescu dies of cancer". Waterloo Region Record. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Mandy Bujold: Olympic Games return for Canadian after successful appeal". BBC Sport. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Olympics-Canadian boxer wins battle to compete in Tokyo". Reuters. 30 June 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  6. ^ a b c "Mandy Bujold" (in French). Canadian Olympic Committee. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Canadian boxer and Kitchener native Mandy Bujold wins gold at the Pan Am Games". Canadian Press. 570 News. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  8. ^ "Olympic profile: Mandy Bujold (Kitchener)". 570 News. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  9. ^ Ewing, Lori (2 August 2014). "Commonwealth Games: Canadian Ariane Fortin wins boxing silver, Samir El-Mais earns gold". Canadian Press. Toronto Star. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  10. ^ "Nicola Adams goes for a golden first in Commonwealth Games boxing ring". The Guardian. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Mandy Bujold makes Pan Am Games history with split decision win". Toronto Star. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  12. ^ "More gold for Kitchener boxer Mandy Bujold". 570 News. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Mandy Bujold delays retirement plans after headgear rule put on hold". CBC Sports. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  14. ^ Friche do Valle, Diana (14 July 2016). "Three Canadian boxers nominated for Rio 2016". www.olympic.ca. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  15. ^ "Mandy Bujold qualifies for the Rio Olympics in boxing". CBC Sports. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Canada's Olympic boxing team makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity". The Globe and Mail. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  17. ^ a b "Mandy Bujold finds strength to box while battling stomach flu — and losing two kilos of body liquid". National Post. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  18. ^ "Kitchener boxer Mandy Bujold weighs options after Rio Olympics". CBC Sports. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  19. ^ a b "Boxer Mandy Bujold won't be at 2018 Commonwealth Games". CBC Sports. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  20. ^ "Olympian Bujold headlines Canada's boxing team for Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games". Inside the Games. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g "Canada's Mandy Bujold wins battle to box in Tokyo Olympics". www.cbc.ca/. CBC Sports. 30 June 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  22. ^ "Boxer Mandy Bujold's Olympic fight comes to quick end after legal battle to reach Tokyo". CBC.ca. 24 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  23. ^ "Local boxing champion gives birth to girl". Kitchener Today. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2021.