The U.S. Olympic Boxing Team has now been on the ground in Rio de Janeiro for nine days and the squad has adjusted well to their new surroundings. After arriving in Brazil on Wednesday, July 20, the team opened a joint training camp with host nation Brazil and the Irish squad at the Naval School in Rio de Janeiro. Team USA concluded the multi-nation camp on Thursday after a successful week of training and moved in to the Olympic Village this morning.
In final preparation for the Olympic Games, the U.S. squad participated in joint training sessions with the Brazilian and Irish teams in addition to aquatic workouts at the Naval School and Brazilian training center. The 2016 Olympic Games will begin one week from today with the Opening Ceremony at the Maracana Stadium and boxing competition will commence on Saturday, August 6.
The team is currently enjoying their new digs at the Olympic Village and will continue fine tuning their preparation at the official training facility in the Riocentro Pavilion through the start of competition. The full U.S. Olympic Boxing Team will speak to the press before the start of competition at their pre-Olympic Games press conference on Wednesday, August 3 at noon at the Main Press Centre.
Prior to the Opening Ceremony, all of the 286 Olympic boxers will learn their opening round opponents and the date of their first bout at the official tournament draw on Thursday morning. The full list of U.S. first round contests will be released following the completion of the draw.
The eight athletes competing for Olympic gold are male light flyweight Nico Hernandez (Wichita, Kansas), male flyweight Antonio Vargas (Kissimmee, Fla.), male bantamweight Shakur Stevenson (Newark, N.J.), female lightweight Mikaela Mayer (Los Angeles, Calif.), male lightweight Carlos Balderas (Santa Maria, Calif.), male light welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell (Capitol Heights, Md.), 2012 Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields (Flint, Mich.) and male middleweight Charles Conwell (Cleveland Heights, Ohio).
Olympic boxing competition will run from August 6 – August 21 at the Riocentro Pavilion 6.
