Name: Savannah Marshall
Event: Boxing
Date of Birth: 19/05/91 (age 21)
Career Highlight: Gold medal – Women’s World Boxing Championships 2012
Did you know? Savannah is nicknamed ‘The Silent Assassin’ because of her shyness outside the ring.
London 2012 sees the introduction of women’s boxing to the Olympic line-up, and Britain’s Savannah Marshall will hope to crown this momentous occasion by claiming the maiden gold medal on home soil.
Marshall is a middleweight, and will be joined by flyweight Nicola Adams and lightweight Natasha Jones to ensure that GB will have a representative at every weight category in London.
Aged just 18, Marshall won a silver medal in the 2010 Women’s World Boxing Championships held in Barbados, but she went one better on her 21st birthday, beating Elena Vystropova of Azerbaijan 17-15 in the 2012 final to claim the gold, and in turn become the favourite to do the same at the Olympics this Summer.
It was far from an easy ride for Marshall in the world finals however – Vystropova came on strong in the final two rounds, even bloodying the Hartlepool-born fighter’s nose, before Marshall secured a narrow victory with a late combination.
Having the home crowd behind her will almost certainly be a big factor in any potential success for Marshall in London. If she is able to claim gold in China then she will surely fancy her chances in her home country, even if she may be too shy to say so.
She will have to overcome opponents of Vystopova’s calibre again if she is to succeed, but of Great Britain’s strong crop of women’s boxers competing in the games, she has the best chance of bringing home the gold.