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The rules of Olympic boxing guarantee that the losing
semi-finalists both receive a bronze medal, meaning that
whatever the outcome of Hernandez's bout it will mark an end to
the medal drought that plagued U.S. boxing at the 2012 London
Olympics.
London was the first Games at which the U.S. male team, which
has accumulated more medals than any other in Olympic boxing,
failed to finish on the podium.
“It feels good, knowing that we didn’t get a medal last
Olympics," Hernandez said after his victory on Wednesday over
Ecuador's Carlos Eduardo Quipo Pilataxi in the quarter-final,
which was watched by his parents in the crowd.
“But I am not satisfied with a bronze medal. I came here to get
gold, so that’s something I continue to work towards," he said.
“I don’t want to lose in front of my parents.”
The U.S. Olympic team has in the past featured boxers who would
go on to become legends like Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard
but, in recent years, the supremacy of professional boxing has
bled talent from it.
(Reporting by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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