Burundi flag bearer Ornella Havyarimana was eliminated in her first match at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic boxing tournament on July 29 at Kokugikan Arena. But Burundian was able to measure her progress against Serbian Nina Radovanovic, an opponent she has already met.
From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
Despite the blows, Ornella Havyarimana never stopped coming forward to show her fighting spirit. Dripping and panting after a fight where she gave her all, Burundian still outlined a smile at the end. Because, even though she lost by unanimous decision of the judges (5-0), the flying weight could measure her progress in boxing against Serbian Nina Radovanovic.
“I had met him before and it had been harder the first time,” she said. It was at the WC in amateur 2019 and Serbia won by unanimous decision also there. But Ornella Havyarimana is confident in her fact: “Even my opponent could see that I have come forward.”
“I am alone in representing Burundian boxing”
Out of the game at the Olympics in Tokyo 2021, the flag bearer in Burundi wants to keep a positive note of her experience at the Olympics. “Yes, I’m proud because I came alone to represent Burundian boxing,” his delegation, including five other athletes in total, split between athletics and swimming.
Not so bad for the young woman who started boxing in 2013, at the age of 15, against the advice of her family, as opposed to a girl practicing this discipline. “Deep down, I felt I could not give up boxing, because I really loved it, it was in me,” Ornella Havyarimana explained in February 2019 in Akeza. A few years later, here is the Burundian boxer at the Games, with the best amateurs on the planet.
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