Two women, one goal: Boxers from either side of the world chase glory

Paris 2024 will be the fairest Olympic Games ever, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), with the French capital hosting an equal number of female as male athletes.

Out of a total of 10,500 athletes, full gender parity will be achieved for the first time in the Games' history, with 5,250 slots allocated to each sex.

‌One sport that will see gender equality for the first time ever is boxing. Women's boxing was allowed on the Olympic program for the first time at London 2012, but now 124 women from all over the world are preparing to get in the ring in a bid to win a medal.

‌China's Wu Yu and Spain's Laura Fuertes are two women, worlds apart, who share the same goal: Olympic gold.

‌Wu is reigning World and Asian Games champion and has her sights set on topping the podium in Paris. ‌

At 29 years of age, the girl from Guiding, Guizhou, is among the favorites for Olympic gold in the 50kg category and has the experience and the training to win the ultimate prize.

'Ten years off stage for one minute on stage'

‌"You work 10 years off stage for one minute on stage," Wu told CGTN five years ago, before the World Military Boxing Championships. "In the ring you have to be tight, you must concentrate, concentrate all your attention," she said. 

The Chinese flyweight fighter has challenged gender stereotypes and attitudes towards women's boxing. "I love to get dressed up and wear makeup but when I get in the ring I'm a different person," she continued.

‌In the ring that "different person" is a winner. Wu won gold at those 2019 championships, and that's the color she has her sights set on once more in France.

‌But it won't be easy, with fierce competitors including pioneering Spanish fighter Laura Fuertes.

‌At just 23, Fuertes is already a history-maker, winning Spain's first ever medal at a women's World Championships in 2022, earning her the honor of becoming the first Spanish woman to box at an Olympics.‌

Chasing dreams

"The preparation is going very well," Fuertes told CGTN at the gym she trains in Madrid. "I am 100 percent focused on the Games. It's the dream I've been chasing since I was a child."

‌Fuertes says she has a lot of experience around her to lean on, like her coach Rafa Lozano who won flyweight bronze for Spain in Atlanta 1996 and silver at Sydney 2000.

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But both Fuertes and Lozano are well aware of the challenge from Wu Yu and the Chinese team.‌

According to Fuertes: "The Chinese women's team has made incredible leaps in progress, they've grown a lot as a boxing nation and they'll be a tough rival in my category."

‌She added: "I'll have to fight hard to win every bout and that's why I'm training so hard, to bring home the medal that shines brightest."

Coach Lozano said ‌"China has raised a lot of standards right now. Not just in boxing but in almost all sports. But the level of Chinese boxing, particularly, has risen a lot."

‌For Wu and Fuertes their moment in the sun could come in Paris, and while they might fight under different flags and speak different languages, they and many more women like them around the world can now share the same dream.

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