HAMADOUCHE Maiva

Olympic qualifying results
She secured a spot for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo through her performance at the 2021 European Qualifying Event in Paris, France. (boxingscene.com, 09 Jun 2021; insidethegames.biz, 07 Jun 2021)

General
PROFESSIONAL VS AMATEUR
She has competed in professional boxing and in 2016 she became world champion in the super featherweight division. She had been part of the French amateur team earlier in her career, and in 2019 she was invited back into the squad by the French Boxing Federation following rule changes that allowed professional boxers to compete at the Olympic Games. She then won silver in the lightweight category at the 2019 European Championships in Madrid, Spain. "I needed to prove that I was in the French team legitimately, and that wasn't so easy. I asked myself a lot of questions. If I return to the amateurs, I would be watched and waited for. I can't come back and get destroyed in the first fight. It's like comparing the 200m and 800m races in athletics. In the Olympics, there isn't so much strategy. You need to keep a high pace and you can't push on your feet so much when you hit. It's different to professional boxing, where we have 10 rounds and everything is about efficiency and tiring your opponent. It's a dangerous path but at the same time it's an opportunity. If we want to move forward, we need to take risks. That's what I do and I'm moving forward. I want to become the first reigning professional world champion to win Olympic gold. And to those who thought that professional boxers have no right to be at the Olympics, I proved that, on the contrary, professional boxers should be part of the Olympics." (espn.co.uk, 20 Jun 2021; boxingscene.com, 09 Jun 2021; lequipe.fr, 08 Jun 2021; rfi.fr, 11 Dec 2020; olympics.com, 09 Sep 2020; lesportaufeminin.fr, 13 Jan 2020)

OCCUPATION
In October 2020 she joined the French National Police after spending time working with the Security and Intervention Company [CSI]. "I had a great time [with the CSI]. I want to show another aspect of being in the police, more benevolent and closer to the community. I am now [speaking in 2021] part of the Directorate of Resources and Skills [DRCPN], a perfect place to combine my sporting and police careers." (lequipe.fr, 08 Jun 2021; parismatch.com, 27 Mar 2021)