Middleweight (69-75 kilograms), Women

Unlike the flyweight and lightweight classes of women’s boxing, the middleweight division provided a succession of upsets. Firstly the two women who contested the World Championship final three months earlier were both eliminated in their first contests with the biggest shock coming when World Champion Savannah Marshall of Great Britain was outpointed by Kazakhstan’s Marina Volnova.

The main beneficiary of these surprises was 17-year-old American Claressa Shields. Shields’ career record had only one blemish, a defeat to Marshall during the latter’s run to the world title, and with the Briton dispatched from the competition the teenager made the most of her chance. When she defeated Russia’s Nadezhda Torlopova by a clear seven point margin she became the youngest Olympic boxing champion since her compatriot Jackie Fields at the 1924 Games in Paris. A month after her Olympic triumph she returned to Flint Northwestern High School to complete her studies.