Multi-talented Lauren Price has no intention of quitting boxing after Olympic gold

Lauren Price has no intention of turning her back on boxing to dominate another sport after winning boxing gold.

Price had already won 52 caps for the Welsh international football team as well as being crowned a kickboxing champion. But having won the Olympic title, she said she had finally found a sport where she planned to stay put.

“No, I’m pretty good at this one,” she said when asked of a potential sporting switch. “I think I’ll stick to this one.”

All of the British male boxers in action in Tokyo are planning to quit the GB Boxing programme in the coming weeks and months, but Price has already set her sights on double Olympic gold after some well-earned rest.

“I’m just going to have some time off, relax, go on holiday, then it’s only three years to Paris so I might go on again and take on all them boxers again,” she said.

Price’s victory was yet another feel-good story of this most unusual of Games. Her parents were unable to look after her and, when just three days old, she was taken in by her grandparents Derek and Linda.

After the decision was announced in her favour over China’s Li Qian, she looked up to the heavens in a nod to her grandfather, who had sadly passed away. Before flying out to Tokyo, she had promised her grandmother to bring back the gold.

Their family home overlooks a postbox; her hope is each day that her grandmother will be able to spot it glistening gold every morning she opens the curtains.

Price looks to have finally found her sporting home on a remarkable journey which has also included a stint in the GB Taekwondo set-up during which she shared a house with Jade Jones and Bianca Walkden.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Team GB Medal Haul

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The sport didn’t quite suit her, but she had been training with them before Tokyo and even played basketball in the Games build-up at the training camp outside the city.

For GB Boxing captain Frazer Clarke, he believes Price is only just beginning to realise her potential, arguing if she was in another national vest the boxing world would be waxing lyrical about her.

“I think she’s been a bit hard done by,” said Clarke, one of six medallists in the team – the team’s best Olympic haul in 101 years. “If she had a Cuban kit on, people would be raving about her. She’s just won an Olympic final and she probably took two shots. She danced around, looked fantastic. I expected nothing less from her.”

Bronze medallist Clarke called the team “history makers” but said he was confident for the future despite being one of those set to turn pro.

Boxing - Women's Middleweight - Final
REUTERS

“GB Boxing have a fantastic system in place,” he said. “We’re not just thinking about Tokyo, I’m sure Paris and also LA are already in the pipeline.

“We’ve had great people coming through. I’m sure it’s up to the next ones to prove it in the World Championships later this year, the Commonwealth Games and then the Olympics. We’re a great conveyor belt of GB Boxing.”

For Clarke, his first aim on his return home was to recharge his batteries, take his kids to play in the park and then after that to McDonald’s. After a brief period of time to binge and unwind, he said his next goal was to follow in the footsteps of another product of GB Boxing, Anthony Joshua, and “be world champion”.

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