Paris 2024 Olympics

First multi-medal Olympics for Australian Combat Sports since Sydney 2000

Bronze medals to Caitlin Parker & Charlie Senior!

12 boxers represented Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the largest Australian team in history and the largest Boxing delegation in Paris.

Paris 2024 proved to be a successful campaign, with two Boxing bronze medals won by Caitlin Parker (W75kg) and Charlie Senior (M57kg). This was the first time Australia won multiple Olympic medals in Boxing since Rome 1960.

Caitlin, Charlie and Teremoana Jr Teremoana (M+92kg) all progressed to the quarterfinals in dominant fashion. After a R1 stoppage in the R16, Teremoana faced Jalolov from Uzbekistan, the defending World and Olympic Champion. Jalolov went on to win gold after defeating Teremoana, who was not outboxed by his world-class opponent, Teremoana pushing Jalolov further than his other three opponents in Paris.

Caitlin outboxed her quarterfinal opponent to become Australia’s first female boxing medallist. Charlie faced the Tokyo silver medallist from Philippines, a boxer he trained with across multi-nations camps at the AIS in August 2023 and January 2024. Charlie performed incredibly well in a high-quality fight, securing a narrow split decision win against a renowned opponent. 

Caitlin and Charlie both faced the top ranked boxers of their division in the semi-finals. Both were unable to progress to the gold medal bouts, but in the process secured two bronze medals for Australia.

Judo represented by three returning Olympians

Three experienced Australian judoka took to the tatami in Paris, with returning Olympians Josh Katz (Rio 2016), Aoife Coughlan (Tokyo 2020) and Katharina Haecker (Rio 2016 & Tokyo 2020) competing across the first week of the Games.

Aoife began her day well in the W-70kg division, defeating a former world champion in golden score to progress to the R16. Her next contest was an incredibly close fight against the 8th seed. Deep into golden score, a small mistake from Aoife opened the door for her German opponent to win by ippon. Although not the desired result for Aoife, her performance was excellent during her two contests, only losing to the eventual silver medallist.

Katharina drew a six-time Grand Slam gold medallist in the R32 of the W-63kg division. The match entered golden score 1-1 with Katharina’s opponent holding two shidos. After having the upper hand for majority of the contest, the momentum changed in favour of Katharina’s opponent. Neither judoka was able to score in overtime, however Katharina unfortunately conceded three shidos, ending her Olympic campaign.

Josh faced a similarly ranked Italian opponent in the R32 of the M-60kg division. Fighting well in an even contest and creating plenty of opportunities to win, Josh unfortunately lost early into golden score by wazari. A brave performance from Josh given the challenges he has successfully overcome this Olympic cycle.

Taekwondo trio compete at the Grand Palais

Having won two Paris Grand Prix medals in 2022 & 2023, Bailey Lewis (M-58kg) was out to secure a medal on the world’s biggest stage.

A strong R16 performance against a similarly ranked athlete saw Bailey progress to the quarterfinals, defeating Niger 2-0. Facing the WR1 for a place in the semi-final, Bailey was competitive in a 2-0 loss, finding ways to score against the top-ranked Tunisian with round scores of 7-4 and 6-3. Unfortunately, this was the end of Bailey’s Olympic campaign as his quarterfinals opponent was defeated in the semi-final to the eventual gold medallist, meaning Bailey missed out on repechage and an opportunity to fight for bronze.

Tokyo 2020 Olympian, Stacey Hymer (W-57kg) faced a tough Brazilian opponent in the R16. Losing the first round 5-0, the second round was more competitive with neither athlete able to register a score. The Brazilian was given the win by superiority at the end of the round, ending Stacey’s Olympic campaign with a 2-0 loss.

2023 world championships medallist, Leon Sejranovic (M-80kg) lost his R16 fight, but was given the opportunity to fight through repechage after his opponent progressed to the final. Facing a tricky fighter from Denmark, Leon went down to the eventual bronze medallist after a competitive first round, losing the second by point gap.

First Australian Olympic Wrestlers since Rio 2016

After qualifying through the Africa Oceania Olympic World Qualifier Tournament in March 2024, Jayden Lawrence (FS86kg) and Georgii Okorokov (FS65kg) became the first Australian Olympic wrestlers since Rio 2016.

Competing in the final week of the Paris Olympics, Jayden faced a former Olympic champion in the R16, losing by technical superiority with a score of 10-0. His opponent later secured the silver medal, highlighting the formidable competition Jayden encountered. In the repechage round, Jayden faced a three-time European champion from Greece, who eventually won a bronze medal after defeating Jayden 10-0.

In the R16, Georgii competed against the 2023 world championships silver medalist from Puerto Rico. Despite a valiant effort, Georgii lost the match with a score of 2-12. His performance placed him 10th overall in the competition, with wrestlers from Cuba, Mexico, USA, Samoa, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan ranking below him.