Boxing has a long sporting history, with evidence being found of the sport in the Middle East from 5000 BC. The sport first featured in the ancient Olympic Games in 688 BC where the combatants wrapped strips of soft leather around their hands and arms.  

The Romans, with their penchant for gladiatorial contests, introduced pieces of metal and iron spikes to the leather around the fists, thus brutalising the sport. In ancient times, there were no rounds, weight divisions or a ring – each bout was a fight to the finish.  With the decline of the Roman Empire, boxing entered a period of hibernation until it was revived in 17th century England. By the early 18th century, the first bare-knuckle champion of England had been proclaimed. In the 1860s the Marquis of Queensbury drew up a set a rules for boxing that have mostly stood the test of time.

Boxing was not included on the program for the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 because it was considered dangerous and not a gentlemanly sport. The sport gained Olympic status in St Louis in 1904, in a nation where it was very popular. All the competitors in the St Louis boxing tournament were Americans. Oliver Kirk won the bantamweight and featherweight titles and became the only person to win two boxing gold medals at the same Olympics.. Women also gave a demonstration of boxing in St Louis. From 1904 onwards, except for Stockholm 1912 where it was prohibited under Swedish law, boxing has been an Olympic sport.

Athletes are paired off at random for the Olympic Games, without regard to ranking. They fight in a single-elimination tournament, but, unlike most Olympic events, both losing semi-finalists receive bronze medals.

Each boxing bout lasts four rounds of two minutes each, with a one-minute break. A score is marked when the athlete hits his opponent at the front part of the head or on the upper part of the body - above the belt line. However, the score is registered only when at least three of the five judges acknowledge the hit simultaneously.

The total number of valid points at the end of the fourth round determines the winner.

Australia’s first Olympic boxer, and indeed boxing medallist, was the famous sporting all-rounder Reginald “Snowy” Baker in London in 1908. Baker was defeated in the middleweight final by Johnny Douglas, who was later to captain England in Test cricket. The next medal came in Melbourne in 1956 with Kevin Hogarth’s bronze in the welterweight division. Tony Madigan and Ollie Taylor headed the boxing team in Rome in 1960 and both won bronze medals in the light heavyweight and bantamweight categories respectively.  Madigan lost to a precocious Cassius Clay (now known as Muhammad Ali) in a semi final. Seoul in 1988 saw Grahame “Spike” Cheney equal Baker’s performance by winning a silver medal, as a light welterweight.

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