To mark the up-and-coming one-year anniversary of the launch of World Boxing (on 13 April 2023), we spoke to the reigning middleweight World Champion, Tammara Thibeault, about her recent decision join World Boxing’s Athletes Committee.
The 27-year-old boxed for Canada at the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan and will compete at her second Olympics this summer having secured her place at Paris 2024 when she won gold at the 2023 Pan-American Games.
Q: Why did you choose to join World Boxing’s Athlete Committee?
A: I chose to join World Boxing’s athlete committee because I truly believe that the athlete’s voice makes a difference. We are always the ones in the mix and we are the ones at competitions. We need to be able to work together to create the best environment for athletes to feel safe and to be able to perform. It is a unique position and it makes all the difference.
As the chair of Boxing Canada’s first athlete committee, I have experience of this and have been able to work with our board and make changes necessary so that the athletes feel like they have a voice and that they are heard.
Q: What would you like to achieve in your work with World Boxing?
A: Right now, since it’s just the beginning of the Athlete Committee, the first thing I would like to do is represent World Boxing’s values and be the voice of the athletes and help ensure that athletes feel listened to and heard, and that World Boxing is an organisation for the athletes.
Q: Why is it important that boxing remains part of the Olympic Movement?
A: Boxing is a special sport. It is one of the original sports of the Olympics and it is important that it remains so. The Olympics provides inspiration for boxers and is a huge platform for the sport. To lose its place at the Olympics would do massive damage to boxing.
Q: Paris will be your second Olympic Games – what are you most looking forward to?
I am looking forward to representing Canada on the international stage and taking part in a real Olympics – because unfortunately Tokyo took place during the pandemic – in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Q: What has been the highlight of your boxing career so far?
I would have to say the whole the 2022 season. I accomplished quite a few things in that season when I won gold at the American Boxing Confederation (AMBC) Championships, the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games, all in a row, and I did it while having fun.
It was the highlight of my career and a beautiful year. I got to travel the world, meet incredible people and be a good icon for boxing and women’s boxing.
Q: Who has been the biggest influence on your sporting career?
The biggest influence on my career is not a boxer – the biggest influence is my father. He was an athlete and played American football. What he has brought to me in my career is my work ethic, my determination and my will to just be the best version of myself. He taught me that the sky is the limit.