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Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. Sporting amateurism was a zealously guarded ideal in the 19th century, especially among the upper classes, but faced steady erosion throughout the 20th century with the continuing growth of pro sports and monetisation of amateur and collegiate sports, and is now strictly held as an ideal by fewer and fewer organisations governing sports, even as they maintain the word "amateur" in their titles.

Background[link]

Just for the record, at this point in time those who participate in club sports tend to be more successful than those who participate solely in High School. If a student comes to the conclusion they wish to take part in college sports then they must take into account the vast difference between High School and club. Many of the coaches who instruct school sports are less knowledgable than those who instruct club. It is for the good of the general population that they are aware of any misconception regarding a child's future.

Modern organised sport developed in the 19th century, with the United Kingdom and the United States taking the lead. Sporting culture was especially strong in private schools and universities, and the upper and middle class men who attended these institutions played as amateurs. Opportunities for working classes to participate in sport were restricted by their long six-day work weeks and Sabbatarianism. In the UK, the Factory Act of 1844 gave working men half a day off, making the opportunity to take part in sport more widely available. Working class sportsmen found it hard to play top level sport due the need to turn up to work. As professional teams developed, some clubs were willing to make "broken time" payments to players, i.e. to pay top sportsmen to take time off work, and as attendances increased, paying men to concentrate on their sport full-time became feasible. Proponents of the amateur ideal deplored the influence of money and the effect it has on sports. It was claimed that it is in the interest of the professional to receive the highest amount of pay possible per unit of performance, not to perform to the highest standard possible where this does not bring additional benefit.

The middle and upper class men who dominated the sporting establishment not only had a theoretical preference for amateurism, they also had a self-interest in blocking the professionalisation of sport, which threatened to make it feasible for the working classes to compete against themselves with success. Working class sportsmen didn't see why they shouldn't be paid to play. Hence there were competing interests between those who wished sport to be open to all and those who feared that professionalism would destroy the 'Corinthian spirit'. This conflict played out over the course of more than one hundred years. Some sports dealt with it relatively easily, such as golf, which decided in the late 19th century to tolerate competition between amateurs and professionals, while others were traumatised by the dilemma, and took generations to fully come to terms with professionalism even to a result of causing a breakdown in the sport (as in the case of rugby union and rugby league in 1895).

Present day[link]

By the early 21st century the Olympic Games and all the major team sports accepted professional competitors. However, there are still some sports which maintain a distinction between amateur and professional status with separate competitive leagues. The most prominent of these are golf and boxing.

Problems can arise for amateur sportsmen when sponsors offer to help with an amateur's playing expenses in the hope of striking lucrative endorsement deals with them in case they become professionals at a later date. This may jeopardise their status as amateurs, and if allowed to let slide, may be seen as corruption or cheating rather than as true "shamateurism."

Where professionals are permitted, it is hard for amateurs to compete against them. Whether this is a triumph of the free market or an example of corruption depends on the viewer's perspective. To some an amateur means an incompetent or also-ran, and to others it means an idealist. To say that the athlete should not be paid can prevent performances only possible for an athlete who is free to pursue the sport fulltime without other sources of income

The term "stamateurism" is used to describe state-sponsored athletes. It was used as a means of funding athletes in the Eastern Bloc countries.

North American collegiate athletics[link]

All North American university sports are conducted by amateurs. Even the very most commercialized college sports, such as NCAA football and basketball, do not financially compensate competitors, although coaches and trainers generally are paid. College football coaches in Texas and other states are often the highest paid state employees, with some drawing salaries of over five million US dollars annually. Athletic scholarship programs, unlike academic scholarship programs, cannot cover more than the cost of food, housing, tuition, and other university-related expenses. A school can pay an athlete to attend classes. However, a school cannot pay an athlete to play.

In order to ensure that the rules are not circumvented, stringent rules restrict gift-giving during the recruitment process as well as during and even after a collegiate athlete's career; college athletes also cannot endorse products, which some may consider a violation of free speech rights.

Some have criticised this system as exploitative; prominent university athletics programs are major commercial endeavors, and can easily rake in millions of dollars in profit during a successful season. College athletes spend a great deal of time "working" for the university, and earn nothing from it at the time; basketball and football coaches, meanwhile, earn salaries that can compare with those of professional teams' coaches.

Supporters of the system say that college athletes can always make use of the education they earn as students if their athletic career doesn't pan out, and that allowing universities to pay college athletes would rapidly lead to deterioration of the already-marginal academic focus of college athletics programs. They also point out that athletic scholarships allow many young men and women who would otherwise be unable to afford to go to college, or would not be accepted, to get a quality education. Also, most sports other than football and men's basketball do not generate significant revenue for any school (and such teams are often essentially funded by football, basketball, and donations), so it may not be possible to pay athletes in all sports. Allowing pay in some sports but not others could result in the violation of U.S. laws such as Title IX.

Olympics[link]

Through most of the 20th century the Olympics nominally only allowed amateur athletes to participate. The amateur code was strictly enforced. Jim Thorpe was stripped of track and field medals for having taken expense money for playing baseball in 1912.

Later on, however, successful Olympians from Western countries often accepted endorsement contracts from sponsors. Complex rules involving the payment of the athlete's earnings into trust funds rather than directly to the athletes themselves, were developed in an attempt to work around this issue, but the intellectual evasion involved was considered embarrassing to the Olympic movement and the key Olympic sports by some^[who?]. In the same era, the nations of the Communist bloc entered teams of Olympians who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full time basis. (Cuba, North Korea, and to some extent China still do this; although China allows professionalism in popular team sports, it can be assumed that athletes in disciplines such as gymnastics from these countries are trained in state academies and have state-given stipends.)

After the 1972 retirement of IOC President Avery Brundage, the Olympic amateurism rules were steadily relaxed and in many areas amount only to technicalities and lip service. In the United States, the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 prohibits national governing bodies from having more stringent standards of amateur status than required by international governing bodies of respective sports.

Olympic regulations regarding amateur status of athletes were eventually abandoned in the 1990s with the exception of boxing and wrestling, where the rules for participation still require amateur status rather than professional status for the safety of the participants.

Baseball[link]

This section requires expansion.

Canada[link]

This section requires expansion.

United States[link]

See: Amateur baseball in the United States

This section requires expansion.

Cricket[link]

England[link]

English first-class cricket distinguished between amateur and professional cricketers until 1963. Teams below Test cricket level in England were normally, except in emergencies such as injuries, captained by amateurs. Notwithstanding this, sometimes there were ways found to give high performing "amateurs", for example W.G.Grace, financial and other compensation such as employment.

On English overseas tours, some of which in the 19th century were arranged and led by professional cricketer-promoters such as James Lillywhite, Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury, a more pragmatic approach generally prevailed.

In England the division was reflected in, and for a long time reinforced by, the series of Gentlemen v Players matches between amateurs and professionals. Few cricketers changed their status, but there were some notable exceptions such as Wally Hammond who became (or was allowed to become) an amateur in 1938 so that he could captain England.

Professionals were often expected to address amateurs, at least to their faces, as "Mister" or "Sir" whereas the amateurs often referred to professionals by their surnames. Newspaper reports often prefaced amateurs' names with "Mr" while professionals were referred to by surname, or sometimes surname and initials. At some grounds amateurs and professionals had separate dressing rooms and entered the playing arena through separate gates.

After the Second World War the division was increasingly questioned. When Len Hutton was appointed as English national cricket captain in 1952 he remained a professional. In 1962 the division was removed, and all cricket players became known as "cricketers".

Other countries[link]

In Australia the amateur-professional division was rarely noticed in the years before World Series Cricket, as many top level players expected to receive something for their efforts on the field: before World War 1 profit-sharing of tour proceeds was common. Australian cricketers touring England were considered amateurs and given the title 'Mr" in newspaper reports.

Before the Partition of India some professionalism developed, but talented cricketers were often employed by wealthy princely or corporate patrons and thus retained a notional amateur status.

Women's cricket is, and always has been, almost entirely amateur.

Association football[link]

Boot money has been a phenomenon in amateur sport for centuries. The term "boot money" became popularised in the 1880s when it was not unusual for players to find half a crown (corresponding to 12½ pence after decimalisation) in their boots after a game.

The Football Association prohibited paying players until 1885, and this is referred to as the "legalisation" of professionalism because it was an amendment of the "Laws of the Game". However, a maximum salary cap of twelve pounds a week for a player with outside employment and fifteen pounds a week for a player with no outside employment lingered until the 1960s even as transfer fees reached over a hundred thousand pounds; again, "boot money" was seen as a way of topping up pay. Today the most prominent English football clubs that are not professional are semi-professional (paying part-time players more than the old maximum for top professionals; this includes all the major existing women's clubs, in which full professionalism has not taken root yet) and the most prominent true amateur men's club is probably Queens Park F.C.. The oldest football club in Scotland, founded in 1867 and with a home ground which is one of the twenty-nine UEFA five-star stadia. They have also won the Scottish Cup more times than any club outside the Old Firm. Amateur football in both genders is now found mainly in small village and Sunday clubs and the Amateur Football Alliance.

American football[link]

See: American football in the United States#Adult Amateur Football / Semi-Pro Football

This section requires expansion.

Sailing[link]

This section requires expansion.

Sailing has taken the opposite course. Around the turn of the 20th century, much of sailing was professionals paid by interested idle rich. Today, sailing, especially dinghy sailing, is an example of a sport which is still largely populated by amateurs. For example, in the recent Team Racing Worlds, and certainly the American Team Racing Nationals, most of the sailors competing in the event were amateurs. While many competitive sailors are employed in businesses related to sailing (primarily sailmaking, naval architecture, boatbuilding and coaching), most are not compensated for their own competitions. In large keelboat racing, such as the Volvo Around the World Race and the America's Cup, this amateur spirit has given way in recent years to large corporate sponsorships and paid crews.

Figure skating[link]

Like other Olympic sports, figure skating used to have very strict amateur status rules. Over the years, these rules were relaxed to allow competitive skaters to receive token payments for performances in exhibitions (amid persistent rumors that they were receiving more money "under the table"), then to accept money for professional activities such as endorsements provided that the payments were made to trust funds rather than to the skaters themselves.

In 1992, trust funds were abolished, and the International Skating Union voted both to remove most restrictions on amateurism, and to allow skaters who had previously lost their amateur status to apply for reinstatement of their eligibility. A number of skaters, including Brian Boitano, Katarina Witt, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, and Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, took advantage of the reinstatement rule to compete at the 1994 Winter Olympics. However, when all of these skaters promptly returned to the pro circuit again, the ISU decided the reinstatement policy was a failure and it was discontinued in 1995.

Prize money at ISU competitions was introduced in 1995, paid by the sale of the television rights to those events. In addition to prize money, Olympic-eligible skaters may also earn money through appearance fees at shows and competitions, endorsements, movie and television contracts, coaching, and other "professional" activities, provided that their activities are approved by their national federations. The only activity that is strictly forbidden by the ISU is participating in unsanctioned "pro" competitions, which the ISU uses to maintain their monopoly status as the governing body in the sport.^[1]

Many people in the skating world still use "turning pro" as jargon to mean retiring from competitive skating, even though most top competitive skaters are already full-time professionals, and many skaters who retire from competition to concentrate on show skating or coaching do not actually lose their competition eligibility in the process.

Rugby football[link]

Background[link]

Rugby has provided one of the most visible and lasting examples of the tension between amateurism and professionalism during the development of nationally-organised sports in Britain in the late-19th century. The split in rugby in 1895 between what became rugby league and rugby union arose as a direct result of a dispute over the pretence of a strict enforcement of its amateur status - clubs in Leeds and Bradford were fined after compensating players for missing work, whilst at the same time the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was allowing other players to be paid.^{[citation needed]}

Rugby football, despite its origins in the privileged English public schools, was a popular game throughout England by around 1880, including in the large working-class areas of the industrial north. However, as the then-amateur sport became increasingly popular and competitive, attracting large paying crowds, teams in such areas found it difficult to attract and retain good players. This was because physically fit local men needed to both work to earn a wage - limiting the time that they could devote to unpaid sport - and to avoid injuries that might prevent them working in the future. Certain teams faced with these circumstances wanted to pay so-called 'broken time' money to their players to compensate them for missing paid work due to their playing commitments, but this contravened the amateur policy of the Rugby Football Union (RFU).

Organization[link]

Following a lengthy dispute on this point during the early 1890s, representatives of more than 20 prominent northern rugby clubs met in Huddersfield in August 1895 to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU), a breakaway administrative body which would permit payments to be made to players. The NRFU initially adopted established RFU rules for the game itself, but soon introduced a number of changes, most obviously a switch from 15 to 13 players per side. It became the Rugby Football League in 1922, by which time the key differences in the two codes were well established, with the 13-a-side variant becoming known as rugby league.

The RFU took strong action against the clubs involved in the formation of the NRFU, all of whom were deemed to have forfeited their amateur status and therefore to have left the RFU. A similar interpretation was applied to all players who played either for or against such clubs, whether or not they themselves received any compensation. Such players were effectively barred sine die from any involvement in organised rugby union. These comprehensive and enduring sanctions, combined with the very localised nature of most rugby competition, meant that most northern clubs had little practical alternative but to affiliate with the NRFU in the first few years of its existence.

Rugby football in Britain therefore became subject to a de-facto schism along regional, and to some extent class, lines, reflecting the historical origins of the split. Rugby league - in which professionalism was permitted - was predominant in northern England, particularly in industrial areas, and was viewed as a working class game. Rugby union - which remained amateur - was predominant in the rest of England, as well as in Wales and Scotland. Rugby union also had a more affluent reputation, although there are areas - notably in South Wales and in certain English cities such as Gloucester - with a strong working-class rugby union tradition.

Discrimination[link]

Discrimination against rugby league players could verge on the petty - former Welsh international Fred Perrett was once excluded in lists of players who died in the First World War due to his 'defection' to the league code.^[2] One Member of Parliament, David Hinchliffe, described it as "one of the longest (and daftest) grievances in history" with anyone over the age of 18 associated with rugby league being banned forever from rugby union.^[3]

Scotland and Wales[link]

The Scottish Rugby Union was a particular bastion of amateurism and extreme care was taken to avoid the 'taint' of professionalism: a player rejoining the national team after the end of the Second World War applied to be issued with a new shirt and was reminded that he had been supplied with a shirt prior to the outbreak of hostilities.^{[citation needed]}

In Wales the position was more equivocal with clubs attempting to stem the tide of players going north with boot money a reference to the practice of putting cash payments into player's footwear whilst they were cleaning up after a game. Sometimes payments were substantial. Barry John was once asked why he hadn't turned professional and responded I couldn't afford to.^{[citation needed]}

Open union[link]

Rugby union was declared "open" in August 1995 - almost exactly 100 years after the original split occurred - meaning that professionalism has been permitted in both rugby codes since that date. However, while the professional-amateur divide remained in force, there was originally very limited crossover between the two codes, the most obvious occasions being when top-class rugby union players 'switched codes' to rugby league in order to play professionally. Welsh international Jonathan Davies was a high-profile example of this switch. Since professionalism has been allowed in Rugby Union the switches have started to come the opposite way. Union has swiftly grown to embrace the professional game with many League players joining union to take a slice of the larger amounts of money available in the sport.

Nowadays, somewhat ironically, while rugby union no longer makes the professional-amateur distinction, the professional-amateur split still exists within rugby league with the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) strictly amateur, though it allows some ex-professionals to play provided they are no longer under contract. The most recent club to get a ban for fielding a contracted professional was Brighouse Rangers who were expelled from the National Conference League during 2007-2008 season, and the player handed a sine die ban (though in part for gouging ^[4]), although the club itself has since been admitted to the Pennine League.

High school sports[link]

This section requires expansion.

Sports teams commonly exist at the high school level; students who participate, commonly referred to as student athletes, do so during their course of study. Occasionally, sports success in high school sports may lead to a professional career in the field.

The benefit of sports in high school is debated; some believe that they promote discipline and teamwork,^[5] while others find that they can cause injury.^[6]

Other sports[link]

This section requires expansion.

In Ireland, the Gaelic Athletic Association, or GAA, protects the amateur status of the country's national sports, including Gaelic football, Hurling and Camogie. Major tennis championships prohibited professionals until 1968 but the subsequent admission of professionals virtually eliminated amateurs from public visibility. Golf still has amateur championships but their champions are far more obscure than professional champions and very few of those who compete in open events are not professionals. Paying players was considered disreputable in baseball until 1869.

In motorsports, amateur racing is more commonly known as Club Racing, sanctioned by the SCCA and others.

See also[link]

• History of English amateur cricket
• Gaelic Athletic Association
• Boot money scandal
• History of rugby union
• History of rugby league
• Professional sports
• Athletic director

References[link]

External links[link]

• CBC Digital Archives - Funding of Amateur Sports

Boom goes the dynamite is the nickname given to a college sportscast at Ball State University in March 2005 that became an internet sensation. Covering the March 22, 2005 NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets, sportscaster Brian Collins monotonously says the phrase "boom goes the dynamite" as Pacers shooting guard Fred Jones hits a 3 with 2:03 left in the first quarter. Collins incorrectly gives the final score as Pacers 63 - Nets 61 (which was the score with 3:42 left in the third quarter); it was actually Nets 98 - Pacers 91.^[1]

During his freshman year, Collins agreed to appear on Ball State University's campus newscast in place of the regular sportscaster who was ill. The teleprompter was operational, but an inexperienced operator accidentally fast-forwarded through the script, leaving Collins with no choice but to ad-lib most of his script.^[2] Eventually posted on YouTube, the newscast is now known as "the Collins incident" in communications classes.^[2][3]

Collins' sportscast was also featured on television and radio throughout the country and earned him an appearance on The Late Show (hosted by Ball State alumnus David Letterman).^[4]

A trademark application on the phrase was filed but ultimately abandoned by a San Diego-based speculator who offered it on t-shirts, saying that part of the proceeds would go to a scholarship fund at Ball State for journalism students.^[5]

ESPN SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt sent Collins words of encouragement and paid homage to him using the "boom" catchphrase on the air several times.^[2]

In 2009, the Fox Sports program Best Damn Sports Show Period called the clip the #1 biggest "sports blooper" in all of televised sports reporting history.

Collins, among other internet stars, is set to star in the upcoming film The Chronicles of Rick Roll.^[6]

Popular culture[link]

The line Collins made famous has appeared in popular television programs.

• It is a catchphrase of animated character, Cleveland Brown, during or immediately following coitus.
  • Cleveland first used in the Family Guy seventh season premiere episode, "Love Blactually."^[7]
  • The phrase followed Cleveland to his spin-off, The Cleveland Show. During the January 23, 2011 episode, "Like a Boss", Cleveland uses the phrase during spontaneous, off-camera sex in the living room with his wife
  • He and Donna utter it twice and once, respectively, in the December 4, 2011 episode, "Sex and the Biddy".
• In "The Boy Can't Help It" episode of King of the Hill, one of Bobby Hill's "girlfriends" uses the phrase while they are playing video games at the Hill's house.^[8]
• In Pride FC "Best of Knockouts, Vol. 2," Mauro Ranallo used the line to describe the "Fastest Knockout" segment of the program.
• In the episode of How I Met Your Mother titled "I Heart NJ", Stella introduces her basement as "the coolest bar in the state, which is so close it will blow your mind," using the line.^[9]
• In the Veronica Mars episode "Welcome Wagon," Veronica uses the line when the police open a garage full of stolen goods.
• On the October 15, 2008 episode of The Colbert Report, Colbert uses the line while providing commentary on an unexciting chess match during his "Sport Report" segment.
• Will Smith used the line after a mispronunciation during the 81st Academy Awards.^[10]
• A character in Wanted uses "Boom goes the dynamite." ^[11]
• On the March 12, 2009 episode of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, host Jon Stewart exclaimed "Boom goes the dynamite!" after insulting Jim Cramer.
• In the Disney series Jonas, Kevin Jonas uses the line when his father says that Kevin's mother was the 23rd love of his life.
• Big D and the Kids Table's song "Doped Up Dollies On a One-Way Ticket to Blood" from their 2009 album, Fluent in Stroll, opens with the lyric "Boom goes the dynamite, dynamite, dynamite, boom goes the dynamite, dynamite, boom!"
• Borderlands for Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3 has an achievement titled "Boom Goes the Dynamite!" for killing 50 enemies with explosive-based attacks.
• Keith Olbermann has used the phrase during highlights on Football Night in America and on occasion on his self-titled Countdown program.
• In 2010, Woody and Rizzuto Show sports reporter Tony Patrico started using the phrase, "Boom Goes The Dynamite" on KPNT after he botched up the sports reports numerous times. He closes every sports segment with Brian's famous line.
• In the Travel Channel show Man vs. Food, during a live eating challenge at Shula's Steakhouse before Super Bowl 44, after an awkward comment from one of the color commentators for the challenge, host Adam Richman used the phrase.
• In the season 2 premier of Warehouse 13, Claudia uses the line when Artie exposes a chameleon mine. Also said by Claudia in the season 3 episode Don't Hate the Player, when retrieving game-Leena's feather from her inventory.
• In the popular online video series, Marvel vs. DC by ItsJustSomeRandomGuy, Deadpool uses this line after shooting Watchmen star The Comedian.
• The line is spoken by the title character in the satirical Broadway musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.
• In Episode 3 of "Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse", a game by TellTale Games, "...and boom goes the dynamite" is one of several lines that can be heard from the radio sports announcer when the player is waiting to hear the finishing move that "Skunkape" uses on his opponent.
• In the November 22, 2010 episode of House M.D. entitled "Small Sacrifices" (Season 7, Episode 8), Dr. Gregory House, portrayed by Hugh Laurie, exclaimed, "Boom goes the dynamite, scores are tied, and we are even-steven!" after purportedly catching Dr. Lisa Cuddy, portrayed by Lisa Edelstein, in a lie.
• During the January 24, 2011 episode of Gossip Girl, 12th episode of Season 4 "The Kids Are Not Alright" Nate Archibald's recently paroled father wins a Wii Tennis Game against two women in maids outfits and exclaims, "Boom Goes the Dynamite".
• While giving the Fox 4 (Kansas City) morning weather report on February 1, 2011, Don Harman utters a "Boom goes the dynamite" at the 2:00 mark in regards to a sudden precipitation expansion on the radar replay.
• NBA Jam (2010 video game) includes "Boom goes the dynamite" as one of the many one-liners used when players score a basket.^[12]
• In the pilot episode of Breaking In, Cash uses the phrase as he continually pranks the new team member.
• Brian was featured in the "Web Redemption" segment of the May 24, 2011 episode of Tosh.0 ^[13]
• In the episode of Dan for Mayor on July 17, 2011 entitled The Art of Gambling, Deputy Mayor Alan is heard saying "...boom goes the dynamite" in a conversation with a new artist.
• In a Kiowa Casino commercial near Lawton, Oklahoma, after an old woman wins a poker hand, she slams the cards down on the table and says "And boom goes the dynamite!"
• In the video game Saints Row: The Third, the achievement/trophy for completing all instances of the "Heli Assault" activity is called "And Boom Goes the Dynamite."^[14]
• In the video game APB:Reloaded, the Steam achievement for killing all the enemy players at a time by making a vehicle explode is called "Boom goes the Dynamite"
• On the NBC Sports Report during the 2012 Bay Hill Invitational, host Jimmy Roberts uses the phrase, "and as a sportscaster once famously said, 'Boom goes the dynamite.'", while reporting on the implosion of the Amway Arena in Orlando, Florida.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Boom Goes the Dynamite on YouTube
• Article from Ball State Daily News

Vasyl Lomachenko

Vasyl Lomachenko (blue)
Personal information
Full name	Василь Анатолійович Ломаченко
Nationality	Ukraine
Born	(1988-02-17) February 17, 1988 (age 24) Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Odessa
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	60 kilograms (130 lb)
Sport
Sport	Boxing
Rated at	Featherweight
Club	Kolos Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi
Medal record Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing Featherweight World Amateur Championships Silver 2007 Chicago Featherweight Gold 2009 Milan Featherweight Gold 2011 Baku Lightweight European Amateur Championships Gold 2008 Liverpool Featherweight

Vasyl Anatoliyovich Lomachenko (Ukrainian: Василь Анатолійович Ломаченко, born February 17, 1988 in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi^[1]) is a Ukrainian amateur boxer who won the silver medal at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, a gold medal at the 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships^[2] and the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the featherweight division. Lomachenko is coached by his father Anatoly. Lomachenko claims that if his father hadn't been a boxing coach he probably would have chosen to play ice hockey professionally.^[1]

Career[link]

In 2004, he became junior flyweight European U17 champion. In 2006 the aggressive southpaw won the Junior World Championships, where he beat future bantam world champion and fellow southpaw Sergey Vodopyanov.

The following year at the (seniors) World Championships 2007 in Chicago he beat Abner Cotto in the first round, Theodoros Papazov, Arturo Santos Reyes, and Li Yang in the semifinal to reach a fight against Russian favorite Albert Selimov, another southpaw, that he lost 12:16.

Lomachenko won gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He avenged his 2007 World Championship defeat to Selimov in the first round. Lomachenko beat his five opponents by an astonishing 58-13 on the way to his first gold medal, and was subsequently named the outstanding boxer for the tournament and awarded the Val Barker Trophy.

World Amateur Championships Results[link]

2007

• Defeated Abner Cotto (Puerto Rico) 26-9
• Defeated Theodoros Papazov (Greece) 19-5
• Defeated Mikhail Bernadski (Belarus) 21-6
• Defeated Arturo Santos Reyes (Mexico) RSCO 3
• Defeated Li Yang (China) 13-13
• Lost to Albert Selimov (Russia) 11-16

2009^[3]

• Defeated Mario Aleksic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 16-2
• Defeated Craig Evans (Wales) 15-1
• Defeated Branimir Stankovic (Serbia) 8-2
• Defeated Oscar Valdez (Mexico) 12-1
• Defeated Sergey Vodopyanov (Russia) 12-1

2011

• Defeated Lomalito Moala (Tonga) RSC 1
• Defeated José Ramírez (USA) 16-9
• Defeated Robson Conceicao (Brasil) 19-18
• Defeated Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (Uzbekistan) 18-10
• Defeated Domenico Valentino (Italy) 17-11
• Defeated Yasniel Toledo (Cuba) 17-12

Olympic Games Results[link]

2008

• Defeated Albert Selimov (Russia) 14-7
• Defeated Bahodirjon Sooltonov (Uzbekistan) 13-1
• Defeated Li Yang (China) 12-3
• Defeated Yakup Kılıç (Turkey) 10-1
• Defeated Khedafi Djelkhir (France) 9-1 RSC 1

European Championships Results[link]

2008

• 1st round bye
• Defeated Vladimir Nikiforov (Estonia) 10-0
• Defeated David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) 10-2
• Defeated Hicham Ziouti (France) 2-1
• Defeated Araik Ambartsumov (Russia) 7-1.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• 2004 Euro
• 2007 Results
• Olympic profile

This biographical article related to a Ukrainian boxer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Katie Taylor
Statistics
Rated at	60 kg
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Nationality	Irish
Born	(1986-06-02) June 2, 1986 (age 26) Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland
Stance	Orthodox
Medal record Medal record Competitor for  Ireland Women’s Boxing World Amateur Championships Gold 2006 New Dehli 60 kg Gold 2008 Ningbo 60 kg Gold 2010 Barbados 60 kg Gold 2012 Qinhuangdao 60 kg European Amateur Championships Gold 2005 Tønsberg 60 kg Gold 2006 Warsaw 60 kg Gold 2007 Vejle 60 kg Gold 2009 Mykolaiv 60 kg Gold 2011 Rotterdam 60 kg European Union Amateur Championships Gold 2008 Liverpool 60 kg Gold 2009 Pazardzhik 60 kg Gold 2010 Keszthely 60 kg Gold 2011 Katowice 60 kg

Katie Taylor (born 2 June 1986) is an Irish boxer and footballer. She studied at St. Kilian's Community School Bray from 1999-2005. Katie's 2 older brothers Peter and Lee and older sister Sarah also went to St. Kilians. She is the current Irish, European, and world women's boxing champion. She had also represented the Republic of Ireland in association football.

Career[link]

Boxing[link]

Katie Taylor started boxing (coached by her father Peter, himself a successful amateur boxer) in 1998, aged 12. Her first noteworthy success was at the 2005 European Amateur Championships, in Tønsberg, Norway. She won the gold medal, defeating Eva Wahlström of Finland in the final of the 60 kg lightweight class. Later that year, at the World Amateur Championships in Podolsk, Russia, Taylor advanced to the quarter-finals in the 60 kg weight class.

At the 2006 European Amateur Championships in Warsaw, Poland, Taylor won her second successive gold medal by stopping reigning world champion Tatiana Chalaya of Russia, also collecting the tournament's Best Boxer award. At that year's World Amateur Championships, contested in New Delhi, India, Taylor became Ireland's first World Champion, defeating Chalaya again in the semi-final and then Annabella Farias of Argentina in the 60 kg final.

In 2007 she won her third successive European Championship title in Denmark.^[1] In August 2008, she claimed her second consecutive Witch Cup gold medal in Hungary, following an inside-the-distance win in the 60 kg final against Wahlström.

Katie went on to claim her second World title at the 2008 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship, contested in November at Ningbo, China. In the 60 kg weight class, she defeated China's Cheng Dong in the final match which was her 100th bout.^[2]

On March 21, 2009 at the The O2 (Dublin), Ireland, Katie won a 27-3 win over thee time Pan American champion Caroline Barry of the United States on the undercard of a pro WBA super bantamweight world title fight between Bernard Dunne of Ireland and Ricardo Cordoba of Panama. Speaking after the fight, Taylor, who had stopped Barry in the final of the 2006 World Championships in New Delhi, said she was stunned by the welcome she received from Irish boxing fans. She said: "I couldn't believe the reception I got - it was an amazing experience for me. I knew it was going to be a tough fight and well done to her for never backing off."

Taylor won gold at the Russian Multi-Nations event at the Sports Palace in St Petersburg in July 2009 chalking up her 39th consecutive victory – and her 60th win in her last 61 bouts.^[3] She also went on to win her fourth successive European Championship title in September 2009 in Ukraine without conceding a point [2]. She picked up another gold medal at the 2010 European Union Championships in Hungary.

On 18 September 2010, Taylor went on to claim her third successive World title at the 2010 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship, in Barbados. In the 60 kg weight class, she again defeated China's Cheng Dong in the final match.^[4] This was Taylor's 100th career win.

Taylor won her second International Boxing Association (AIBA) World female boxer of the year award at a ceremony in Almaty, Kazakhstan in November 2010 [3].

She won Gold Medal at the EU Women Boxing Championships in Katowice, Poland in 2011. [4][5]

On 19 May 2012, Taylor won her fourth successive World title at the 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship, in Qinhuangdao China. In the 60 kg weight class, she defeated Russian southpaw Sofya Ochigava [6].

Football[link]

As well as boxing, Taylor plays with the Ireland Women's senior football team. She scored in the opening UEFA 2009 qualifying round win over Hungary on 1 April 2007. She scored again and got sent off in a 4-1 loss in Italy on the 16th of February 2008.^[5] She came on as sub for Ireland days after coming back from Ukraine.^[6] Previously, she had played with the national teams at the U-17 and U-19 levels.

Katie also played Gaelic football with her local GAA club, Fergal Óg, Bray, and on a few brief occasions with Bray Emmets Under 14.

As for her preferred sport, "I love playing for Ireland, and I love soccer, but when it comes down to it I would choose boxing as my number one sport as I'd miss it too much if I wasn't involved."

Honours[link]

Advertising[link]

Taylor appeared in a Lucozade Sport advertisement in 2011 alongside English rapper Tinie Tempah and American musician Travis Barker. Her advertising of Lucozade was branded "disgusting" by the chairman of the Irish Heart Foundation Nutrition Council due to concerns that it sent the wrong message on childhood obesity.^[7][8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site