Sena Irie (入江 聖奈, Irie Sena, born 9 October 2000)[2] is a Japanese amateur boxer who won a gold medal in the inaugural women's featherweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[3] She became the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.[4]
Sena Irie 入江 聖奈 | ||||||||||||||
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Statistics | ||||||||||||||
Weight(s) | Featherweight | |||||||||||||
Born | (2000-10-09) 9 October 2000 (age 21) Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, Japan[1] | |||||||||||||
Stance | Orthodox[1] | |||||||||||||
Medal record
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Irie was born in Yonago, Japan in 2000.[5] She took up boxing when she was seven years old at a local gym.[5] Irie was inspired to box from the sports manga television series Ganbare Genki, which features a character who wants to become a boxer.[6] She also took her inspiration from frogs.[6]
At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Irie beat Karriss Artingstall of Great Britain in the semi-finals of the women's featherweight, and then went on to beat Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines in the final to win the gold medal.[7][8] At the time of winning her gold medal, Irie was a university student at Nippon Sport Science University.[9][10] Irie later stated that she would retire from boxing after graduating,[6] with plans to work for a company making video games.[11]
In September 2022, she announced that she would retire from boxing after her graduation in spring 2023.[12]
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52-57 kg | |
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