One of the last medals awarded at the Rio Olympics went to a 21-year-old middleweight boxer from Flint, Mich.: Claressa Shields.It was gold. With that Sunday victory, Shields became the first U.S. boxer ever to win back-to-back gold medals.On the podium, after the medal was slipped around her neck, she reached into her pocket, pulled out her gold medal from the 2012 London Games and draped that one over her head, too.Later, she explained, "People didn't give me my recognition for doing it one time. So I was like, you know what? When I get on the podium, I'm gonna put on both, so people will always remember and never forget that I'm the first American boxer to win two Olympic gold medals" in consecutive games.In the final match in Rio, Shields faced Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands. They'd met in the ring before: Just a few months ago, Shields had beaten Fontijn to win her second straight world championship in Astana, Kazakhstan.In Rio, just before the fight, Shields paced in her
↧