Fingers crossed as Andrea Medina continues her quest to make USA Olympic Team
After another grueling battle at the Lake Charles Civic Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the site of this year’s USA Amateur Boxing’s Olympic Trials, we see Olympic hopeful Andrea Medina, along with her father/coach Juan Medina Jr. posing for a photo they hoped would find its way home to Andrea’s family and friends in the San Diego/Chula Vista area.
After eight days of non-stop action, the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Boxing came to a close following the final three box-off bouts to determine the champions in the female 57 kg weight class, as well as the 75 kg and 91 kg male weight classes.
The day began with the fourth matchup of the year between Lupe Gutierrez (Sacramento, Calif.) and Andrea Medina (of San Diego). The two met earlier this year at the Western Elite Qualifier in which Medina was victorious, and three times this week in Lake Charles. Medina took the first bout with a close decision and then Gutierrez was victorious in the final two bouts, with the final being decided 4-1 to give Gutierrez the crown.
All six boxers will now join the other 20 finalists in Colorado Springs on January 2 to begin the next phase of this grueling selection procedure, which will include a multination training camp before heading off to Bulgaria for the Strandja Tournament.
After being bombarded by phone calls and texts, Andrea Medina and her father Juan Medina, Jr. wanted to clarify the results of their daughter’s recent performance at these USA Olympic Trials. He began: “WE ARE STILL IN THE RUNNING and it’s far from over. We are not just alternates, because there are these further stages which will now go into effect.”
The goal of Stage 1 is to place at the Olympic Trials and we did that by earning the Silver Medal.
Stage 2 is where they take the first and second place winners of the Olympic Trials on to the Olympic Training Center. Once there, they begin camp to compete in the next stage, an International competition in Bulgaria, the 2020 Srandja Tournament sponsored by AIBA where Team USA at that time will make their assessment of who will make the 2020 Olympic team. That announcement is usually made on January 31st. If Medina with her 4-2 record versus her nearest competitor, Lupe Gutierrez of Sacramento, Calif., does well in Sofia, Bulgaria in that International Tournament, she could easily get the nod. Just because she finished second place at Lake Charles in the Olympic Team Qualifier does not mean that she can redeem herself with an above average performance in Bulgaria where many of the top countries of Eastern Europe will be represented.
Stage 3 is where the boxers on that Team USA Boxing Team get to compete in Argentina and Paris to finally qualify to enter the actual Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
