Delicious Orie, a Team GB boxer, believes Olympic gold has been “taken away” from him after losing a split decision against Davit Chaloyan.
Chaloyan had a cagey start in the men’s super-heavyweight category, throwing some excellent hooks, but Orie grew into the round and gained control with strong punches.
The second round was a closer fight, with the Armenian putting up a stronger performance, but Orie maintained his form. Orie then landed some powerful blows in the last round, including a fantastic right hook to Chaolyan’s face.
However, his Olympic hopes came to a close following a 3-2 loss on points, meaning Great Britain have now lost all four of their bouts so far and have just two boxers left in the Games.
“I can’t believe it,” Orie admitted. “I’m absolutely gutted. For the past eight years, I’ve dreamt about that Olympic gold medal and it’s been taken away from me.
“It could be me, it could be the judges, but at the end of the day, that’s what’s happened. I feel like I’ve let myself down and my family.”
Did Orie do enough for victory?
Orie’s is the latest early exit in controversial fashion for a British boxer, following on from Rosie Eccles and Charley Davison losing by the same margin in their respective weight classes.
Team GB boxing representatives have not made any further public comments on these issues, beyond the athletes’ post-bout interviews.
However, Sky Sports understands the team is furious with the scoring in three of their four bouts so far and felt that Davison, Orie and particularly Eccles all did enough to win and were very harshly treated by the judges.
“I’m not a judge so I can’t really tell you which way it went,” Orie added. “It’s too soon for me to start saying it’s unfair or fair, whatever it is. I do think I was a little bit hard done by, it was very close and I felt like I just did enough.
Orie felt he did enough to win the fight and reach the quarter-finals
“You can argue the same for Rosie, you can argue the same for Charley, so I knew I had to go in strong and hard, but at the same time I didn’t want to overcommit myself.
“At the end of the day that was the result, I had to just accept with both hands and move on.”
Eccles and Davison also exit for Team GB
Eccles was left in tears on Sunday after a controversial defeat to Poland’s Aneta Rygielska that she said “really shocked” her. The Welsh boxer, who missed the Tokyo Games three years ago through illness and injury, was eliminated by a 3-2 split decision that drew boos and jeers around the North Paris Arena.
A boxer knows when they have won a fight,” Eccles said ringside as she momentarily fought back the tears. “I knew I had won the fight so I am really, really shocked. It feels like I am in a dream right now, but not a great one.”
Davison, who was beaten by split decision on the opening day against former world champion Hatice Akbas, said: “I made a slow start and picked up towards the end but it was not enough. In the second and third rounds, I upped the pressure and scored with some shots. What more could I do?”
There are now just two Team GB boxers left in the Olympics. Middleweight Chantelle Reid faces Morcco’s Khadija Mardi – the 2023 world champion – on Wednesday, with light-middleweight Lewis Richardson taking on Serbia’s Vakhid Abbasov in the last-16 later that evening.