Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Bianca Elmir |
Nickname | Bam Bam |
Nationality | Australian |
Born | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 24 July 1982
Height | 157 cm (5 ft 2 in) |
Weight | 57 kg (126 lb) |
Updated on 13 November 2015 |
Bianca "Bam Bam" Elmir (born 24 July 1982) is an Australian boxer from Canberra, ACT. [1] She has been the Australian Flyweight Champion and the Oceania Boxing Bantamweight Champion. Since starting to box in 2009, Elmir has aimed for one thing: to compete in the Olympics. [2]
Outside of boxing, Elmir has been an executive assistant to an Australian state politician, ACT Greens politician Amanda Bresnan: She's a part of the green team and a part of our family, (Amanda Bresnan). [3]
She has also spent a year working as a volunteer for a Youth Empowerment Programme for Restless Development in the rural Eastern Cape in South Africa. [4] Elmir is currently[ when? ] studying for a Masters in Globalisation, working with at-risk youth in Canberra and as a boxing coach and trainer.
Bianca has always been passionate about sports and began playing soccer at an early age. In 2003, Elmir's soccer coach suggested that she try a sport with more aggression and suggested she take up a contact sport such as kick-boxing. That began her kick boxing career which took her to the top of Australian Kick Boxing and Muay Thai. [5]
In 2009 Elmir crossed over into boxing and very soon after that won the Oceania Championships in 2010 and the Australia Flyweight Championships in 2010 and 2011. She also won the best women's boxer trophy at the 2011 Bee Gee International Boxing Tournament in Finland. [6] Elmir then focused on training for the London 2012 Olympics.
In February 2012, she won the 51-kilogram division at the Australian National Boxing Championships held in Hobart, Tasmania. However, after testing positive to banned diuretics furosemide and amiloride, she was stripped of this title. [7] She had taken a diuretic before a long haul flight from Ireland to Australia to reduce swelling in her ankles and unbeknownst to her, it contained the two banned substances. [8] Elmir was slapped with a 12-month doping ban just 14 hours before flying to China for the women's world championships in April 2012. This disqualified her from competing at the London Olympics in 2012. [9]
Since then, Elmir has been based at Stockade Training Center in Canberra and has focused on coaching both male and female boxers. [10] In April 2014, she competed in the Commonwealth Games trials in Fremantle, Perth but did not qualify. [11] After this competition she changed her boxing division weight and will now be competing in the 60 kg division. [12]
In July 2015, Elmir launched a boxing program in Canberra to help disadvantaged young people. [13] She is also a champion of diversity for the ACT Human Rights Commission's campaign "Diversity Goes With Our Territory." [14] [15]
Elmir has said: "Getting punched in the face makes me feel alive. It sounds mental, it sounds like I'm a psychopath, but I'm not – I've checked," she joked. "When I no longer like being punched in the face, that's when I know it's time to hang up the gloves." [16] Her main aim is to still qualify for the Olympics and she aims to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. She failed to qualify for Rio when beaten by Shelley Watts in a qualifying tournament in 2015 [17] and later losing to Nikhat Zareen in her opening bout of the 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships. [18]
A documentary film following Elmir's path to Rio 2016 was made by Lollapalooza Films and released in 2018. [19]
Year | Tournament | Venue | Result | Event |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | Australian Championships [15] | Canberra, Australia | 1st | 51 kg |
2011 | Australian Championships [15] | Canberra, Australia | 1st | 51 kg |
2011 | Gee Bee Boxing Tournament | Helsinki, Finland | 1st | 51 kg |
2011 | Adidas Champion | Paris, France | 1st | 51 kg |
2014 | Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament | Queensland, Australia | 1st | 51 kg |
2015 | Taipei City Cup | Taipei, Taiwan | 1st | 60 kg |
2015 | International Boxing Tournament Balkan | Sofia, Bulgaria | 1st | 60 kg |
Elmir is of Lebanese heritage. After her parents divorced while she was an infant, her mother kidnapped Elmir from her paternal grandparents home in Iaal, Lebanon, flew her to Sydney and then raised her in Canberra, Australia. Since then, Bianca has met her father and her paternal grandparents in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Her father, Ahmad, was the former mayor of his village. Of her relationship with her father she has stated "I both hate and love my father." [20] Her mother, Diana Abdel-Rahman, who hails from Miriata, is an ACT recipient of Australia Day honours. [21]
Elmir is a supporter of LGBT rights and a member of Muslims for Progressive Values. [22]
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (January 2016) |
The IBA Men's World Boxing Championships are biennial amateur boxing competitions organised by the International Boxing Association, which is the sport governing body. Alongside the Olympic boxing programme, they are the highest level of competition for the sport. The championships were first held for men in 1974. Since 1989 the men's championships are held every odd year.
The International Boxing Association (IBA), previously known as the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA), is a sports organization that sanctions amateur and professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships. It is one of the oldest boxing federations in the world, coming into existence after the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IBA consists of five continental confederations, the African Boxing Confederation, American Boxing Confederation, Asian Boxing Confederation, European Boxing Confederation, and Oceania Boxing Confederation. The association includes officially 198 national boxing federations. It is led by a committee headed by Umar Kremlev.
Mangte Chungneijang "Mary" Kom is an Indian Olympic boxer, politician, and former Member of Rajya Sabha. She is the only woman to win the World Amateur Boxing Championship six times, the only female boxer to have won a medal in each one of the first seven World Championships, and the only boxer to win eight World Championship medals. Nicknamed Magnificent Mary, she was the only Indian female boxer to have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she competed in the flyweight (51 kg) category and won a bronze medal. She had also been ranked as the world's No. 1 female light-flyweight by the International Boxing Association (amateur) (AIBA). She became the first Indian female boxer to win a gold medal in the Asian Games in 2014 at Incheon, South Korea and is the first Indian female boxer to win gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She is also the only boxer to become Asian Amateur Boxing Champion for a record six times. Mary Kom won the 51kg gold in President's Cup in Indonesia.
Laishram Sarita Devi is an Indian boxer from Manipur. She is a national champion and a former world champion in the lightweight class. In 2009, she was awarded Arjuna award by the government of India for her achievements.
Vikas Krishan Yadav is an Indian boxer from Bhiwani district in Haryana, the hub of some of India's best boxers. He won a gold medal in the 2010 Asian Games in the Lightweight category and a gold medal in 75 kg weight category at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He is one of the best boxers of India. He also boxed professionally.
The boxing tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 21 August 2016 at the Pavilion 6 of Riocentro. However, boxing at the games was overshadowed with controversy after there were doubts raised that results in certain bouts had been manipulated. These concerns were upheld in a report published in 2021.
Mandy Marie Brigitte Bujold 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.
Belarus competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.
The Russian Federation competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was Russia's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics as an independent nation. The nation finished fourth in the medal standings, with 19 gold and 56 total medals, ensuring that Soviet and Russian athletes had never placed below fourth since they started participating in 1952.
Turkey competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's debut in 1908, Turkish athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, except for three occasions. Turkey failed to register any athletes at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, did not attend the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles at the period of worldwide Great Depression, and also joined the United States-led boycott, when Moscow hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics. The Turkish team consisted of 103 athletes, 55 men and 48 women, across twenty-one sports.
Bulgaria competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Bulgaria made their official debut at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Bulgarian athletes had appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympics since 1924, except for three occasions: the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, and the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles because of Bulgaria's actions in World War II, the worldwide Great Depression and the Soviet boycott, respectively.
Pooja Rani Bohra is an Indian middleweight boxer. She is two time Asian champion (2019,2021) She won the bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games in the 75 kg category. She won the gold medal in South Asian Games 2016. She also won Silver (2012) and Bronze (2015) in Asian Championship 75 kg weight categories. She represented India at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 in the 75 kg category. In 2016, she failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics when she lost at the second round of the Women's World Boxing Championships in May 2016,She is 7 time National champion also In 2020 She become first Indian to qualify for 2020 Summer Olympics.
Kazakhstan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era. The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan fielded a roster of 104 athletes, 55 men and 49 women, to compete across seventeen different sports at these Games, the smallest Summer Olympic team since the nation's debut in Atlanta 1996. Moreover, Kazakhstan did not send teams in any of the team sports for the first time in twenty years. Track and field accounted for the largest number of athletes on the Kazakh squad, with 25 entries. There was a single competitor each in slalom canoeing, track cycling, fencing, and table tennis.
Qualification for the boxing events at the 2016 Summer Olympics is based on the APB and WSB World Rankings, APB and WSB World and Olympic Qualifier, the 2015 World Championships, and the 2016 World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. For the women's events, qualification is based only on the 2016 Women's World Championships. For both men and women, each boxer is selected to compete for the Games through the four Continental Olympic Qualifying Tournaments to be held in 2016.
Mongolia competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation made its debut in 1964, Mongolian athletes had appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, because of its partial support to the Soviet boycott.
Azerbaijan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.
Morocco competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's fourteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Uzbekistan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.
Amy Sara Broadhurst is an Irish amateur boxer. She is the 2022 IBA World Light-welterweight champion, and won the gold medal in the lightweight division at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Nadine Apetz is a German amateur boxer. She won bronze medals at the World Championships in 2016 and 2018, and gold at the 2017 EU Championships. In 2021, she became the first German woman to qualify for a boxing event at the Summer Olympic Games.
"Conversations: Bianca Elmir [life story]" (audio). ABC. 18 February 2015.