Mandy Bujold, the boxing mother in a legal fight to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics
The Canadian, who missed the rearranged qualification window due to maternity leave, is taking her case to Court of Arbitration for Sport
9 May 2021 • 8:30am
Mandy Bujold is the only female boxer to win back-to-back titles at the Pan American Games
Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK
For those seeking concrete proof that female athletes still face battles in trying to reconcile a sporting career with motherhood, look no further than boxer Mandy Bujold.
Canada’s 11-time national flyweight champion had meticulously planned her pregnancy in November 2018, when she gave birth to her daughter. But never did she envisage it would seriously hamper her chances of competing at the Tokyo Olympics more than 2½ years later.
Mandy Bujold's appeal to the International Olympic Committee for a berth in the Tokyo Games has been denied, and so she will take her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Bujold and her lawyer Sylvie Rodrigue were denied their appeal to the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday, leaving the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne her last chance to box in what would be her final Games. I had been hopeful (about the IOC s decision), Bujold said Wednesday morning. But they did not even address the issues in our letter, which is really unfortunate, right? You think of the Olympics and the principles of Olympism, you think about fairness, you think about sportsmanship, you think about all these things that make the Olympics what they are, and make me proud to be an Olympian and to get this response was really tough.
Lori Ewing
Mandy Bujold, right, of Ontario, lands a blow to the head of Kim Klavel, of Quebec, during their 51kg bout at the Canadian Olympic boxing trials, in Montreal, on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes May 05, 2021 - 11:47 AM
Mandy Bujold would have far preferred fighting this battle within the familiar ropes of the ring.
Instead, the Tokyo Olympic fate for Canada s best boxer lies in the hands of the Court of Arbitration for Sport after her Tokyo qualifying tournament was scrapped due to COVID-19.
Bujold and her lawyer Sylvie Rodrigue were denied their appeal to the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday, leaving the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne her last chance to box in what would be her final Games.
We now have unfortunately no choice but to pursue our legal challenge before the courts, Bujold said.
After a competitive year wiped out by COVID-19, the two-time Pan American Games champion had been confident she d clinch a berth at the Olympic qualifying tournament in May in Buenos Aires, but the event was recently cancelled due to climbing case numbers of the virus in Argentina.
With no competitions now on the schedule, the IOC revised its ranking system, using three events between 2018 and 2019 to determine the four available spots in Bujold s weight class. The 33-year-old from Kitchener, Ont., had been ranked second before her maternity leave, but didn t compete in the three events used in the revised ranking because she d just given birth to daughter Kate Olympia.