Canadian Wyatt Sanford fights Sofiane Oumiha in the men's 63.5 kg semifinal in boxing during the 2024 Olympic Games, on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in Paris, France.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Canadian boxer Wyatt Sanford has never played hockey, even as a kid growing up in Kennetcook, N.S., just up the road from the hometown of superstar Sidney Crosby. But that hasn’t stopped him from showing a few enforcers how to put up their dukes.
He’ll have a few more tricks to teach them now that he’s won a bronze medal in boxing in Paris, the first Canadian medal in the sport in nearly 30 years.
“I’ve got a couple of buddies in the NHL,” Sanford said Sunday. “There may be a couple of videos that haven’t been shared of me getting in with a couple of NHLers, but that’s just on the side.”
Sanford lost his semi-final bout on Sunday to France’s Sofiane Oumiha, in a raucous North Paris Arena that was filled with fans waving French flags and singing the national anthem.
Has boxing fought its last Olympic round?
Boxing awards bronze medals to the losers of both semi-finals instead of having them fight for third place, an arrangement Sanford supports. Fighters give it their all in the semi-finals and they wouldn’t have much left for another bout, he said. “It’s a great thing that they do give out two bronzes for the health and safety of the athletes.”
Sunday’s bout was close. Oumiha clearly won the first round in the eyes of the judges, who scored it 5-0 for the Frenchman. Sanford threw far more punches in the second but still lost 3-2 on scoring. He did better in the third and won it 4-1, but he couldn’t overcome Oumiha’s lead. The victory means Oumiha will fight for the gold medal in the 63.5-kg category on Wednesday at Roland Garros stadium.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted today, but it was a great performance,” Sanford said. “I felt after the fight that France was going to get it just the way the rounds went.”
He knew Oumiha had a good jab and it took a round to adjust. “It just took me a little bit longer than what I would have liked to actually get the timing of it,” Sanford said.
The boxing tournament in Paris has been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding two female fighters from Algeria and Taiwan whose gender has come into question. But Sanford, 25, has been among the feel-good stories.
He’s become something of a darling because of his infectious joy and jokes about needing to keep up with his wife, diver Pamela Ware, who has won a multitude of medals at international competitions including a gold and two silvers at the 2019 Pan American Games.
Hundreds of fans from his hometown of Kennetcook, N.S., – population 150 – have also been following his progress and packing a local baseball field to watch the fights on a big screen. And his parents, Angela and Dan, have been ringside for every fight in Paris.
Despite the noisy crowd, Sanford joked that he had no trouble hearing his mother. “I always hear my mother,” he said with a laugh. “That’s a voice I’ve learned to listen to through big crowds over the years, and it’s always nice hearing her.”
Sanford has spent the past seven years training in Montreal, but he plans to move back to Nova Scotia after the Games. This was his second Olympics – he lost his first fight in Tokyo – and he’s gone through several adjustments in the three years since, including changing weight classes and coaches. Now he’s not sure if he will continue boxing. “Right now we just want to spend some time with the family and then we’re going to look at moving forward afterwards,” he said.
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