<p>T-REX (teaser) from California is a place. on Vimeo.</p> 

Claressa Shields'

Olympic gold medal fight,

round by round

 

August 9, 2012

Claressa Shields finished an incredible journey today from an unknown teenager boxing in a downtown Flint gym to an Olympic gold medalist.

Shields, who only turned 17 in March, outpointed Nadezda Torlopova of Russia, 19-12, to win the middleweight title at the London Olympics. Women’s boxing made its Olympic debut this year.

Shields has gone where few U.S. men have gone in the past two decades. Only the seventh U.S. boxer to reach a gold medal bout since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she became the first U.S. gold medalist since light heavyweight Andre Ward at the 2004 Athens Olympics. This year, for the first time at an Olympics, the U.S. men’s team failed to win a single medal.

• More: Flint already planning a welcome-home for Shields

Before the Shields-Torlopova bout, the speakers blared David Bowie’s “Heroes.” It includes the line: “We can be heroes just for one day.” After an introduction by the announcer, with the crowd cheering wildly, Shields, going first, and then Torlopova made the long walk to ring as “Do It Like A Dude” by Jessie J. played.

The first round, until a few late exchanges, was mainly a feeling-out process between two similarly sized boxers. The Excel Arena crowd chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” for about 15 seconds midway through the two-minute round. The round was scored a 3-3 tie.

In the second round, the pace stayed the same until 48 seconds remained, when the referee stopped the bout to have the Russian’s shoelace retied. When that break ended, Shields charged after her opponent and started landing a series of blows. Shields won the round, 7-4.

In the third round, Shields again started as the aggressor. But both fighters tried to land long punches. In the final minute, Shields nailed Torlopova with a good exchange in a corner. The round ended with more “U-S-A!” chants. Shields won it, 5-3.

That gave her a 15-10 lead heading into the final round.

In that round, Shields held back at the start, for the first time not charging after the Russian. For 30 seconds, neither fighter attempted more than a punch or two. Shields, obviously, knew she was ahead and wasn’t taking chances.

In the last 30 seconds, the Russian tried to press the action, and Shields battled her evenly.

The round was scored, 4-2, for Shields.

After the bout, the fighters returned to their dressing rooms to prepare for the medal ceremony. Up first, though, was the ceremony for lightweight division, won by Katie Taylor of Ireland. Taylor and Great Britain’s Nicola Adams, the flyweight winner, were the most popular female fighters in these Games. They drove the fans to a frenzy each time they fought.

During Taylor’s ceremony, the Irish fans tried to outdo the British fans from Adams’ ceremony. Taylor took a victory lap outside the ring with her flag overhead.

The crowd stayed for the next ceremony, Shields’ chance in the spotlight. The medalists walked in as the theme from “Chariots of Fire” played, the standard music for all the award ceremonies. Shields wore a brown Nike jacket, the medal attire for U.S. boxers.

As she took the stand, Shields was beaming, flashing a wide, open-mouthed smile. Then she swayed from side to side quickly on the stand, holding up her golden prize at arm’s length and smiling even wider.

As the American flag rose and the anthem played, Shields held her hand over her heart. She mouthed the words for part of the song, but then, overcome by the moment, she broke into a series of wide smiles and, when the anthem ended, threw her head back, overjoyed.

Although obviously overwhelmed, Shields never appeared to shed a tear.

After all, there is no crying in boxing, right?

• Related: Why Shields is nicknamed T-Rex | Photos from Shields' semifinal win | Jo-Ann Barnas' story from her semifinal victory

Shields’ medal didn’t seem possible less than a year ago, when her coach at Flint’s Berston Field House, Jason Crutchfield, signed her up for the National PAL Boxing Championships in October in Toledo. It was her first senior tournament. When Shields won her weight class, the result qualified her for the U.S. Olympic trials in February. She made the age cutoff by two months. Shields, who will be a senior at Flint Northwestern next month, turned 17 on March 17.

Shields suffered her only loss at the world championships in China in May. It nearly kept out her out of the London Games, which, for its Olympic debut, had limited fields and only three weight divisions. Shields’ division, middleweight, is the heaviest, at 165 pounds.

That loss in China came to Great Britain’s Savannah Marshall, the world champion and top seed for the Olympic tournament.

In London, Shields received a first-round bye. Marshall, stunningly, lost her first bout, to Marina Volnova of Kazakhstan. On Monday, Shields made her Olympic debut by rallying to beat Anna Laurell of Sweden, 18-14. Laurell’s 4-inch height advantage proved to be a puzzle for Shields, until a furious comeback in the fourth and final round.

In Wednesday’s semifinals, Shields pummeled Volnova, 29-15. Twice, Volnova took standing eight counts.