Following her gold medal performance at the AIBA American Olympic Qualification Event in Buenos Aires in March, Canada’s Mandy Bujold has been awarded the latest AIBA Boxer of the Month accolade.

Born in 1987 in Cobourg, Ontario, Bujold played around with a bag and gloves at home as a child, but began taking her interest in boxing seriously at the age of 16, going to the local gym to train with her brother.

The young athlete’s first taste of boxing success came at the 2006 Canadian Women’s Junior National Championships when she defeated Anne-Marie Asselin in the flyweight final, leading to her first international tournament in Sweden. The following year she won her first elite competition, beating Micehelle Nelson to the national title, before going on to take the 2007 AMBC American Confederation gold in Ecuador.

After a third continental title in Brazil in 2010, Bujold took gold at the 2011 Pan-American Games in  Guadalajara, a feat she would repeat four years later in front of her home fans in Toronto with a memorable win over AIBA Women’s World Champion Marlen Esparza.

Having missed out on London 2012, Bujold was in determined mood as she began the American Olympic Qualification tournament in Buenos Aires last month, and a brilliant win in the final against Colombia’s South American Games winner Ingrit Valencia ensured the Canadian the gold medal and a place at Rio 2016.

“It is an honour to win the AIBA Boxer of the Month Award. March was a very important month and it’s great that my performance was recognized. I have been working towards this goal for years and to finally make it a reality was very exciting. Being the first Canadian to win this award is an honour, and our team is continuing to improve so I’m sure you will see many Canadian boxers winning this award in the near future. Focusing on the process and not the outcome was key for me in Buenos Aires. I knew I had the skill and the determination to win this championships so I needed to make sure I fought smart in every match. Keeping that focus even after qualifying was also important because I wanted to come home with that gold medal. The entire event was great and definitely an experience I will draw on in the future. Now I am preparing for the AIBA World Championships, and it is nice to be able to go to Kazakhstan without the pressure of qualifying so I can focus on my performance. I am looking forward to Rio 2016 but I didn’t work this hard just to go to the Olympics, I want to be there to perform and to give 100%,” said Mandy Bujold ass she received the Award.

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