Boxing-Policewoman Bylon Set to Make History for Panama

Panamanian boxer Atheyna Bylon continues to make history by achieving a victory by decision over Cindy Ngamba, and will compete for the gold medal in the 75 kilogram semi-final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Saturday. Bylon showed a great combat plan, in which she sought to take advantage of her distance with the jab and moving side to side. The objective worked perfectly against an opponent like Ngamba who always moves forward, taking advantage of her speed and aggressiveness.  This made the judges decide to give the fight to Bylon with fight cards of 4-1.  “Thank God we achieved our goal. We have to give it our all until the final round,” Bylon said in an interview.  “I had a much respected rival. We had to take out the book against this rival,” she added. 

Bylon will now face China’s Li Qian on Saturday, August 10 for the Olympic Games gold medal, starting at 3:00 p.m.  Bylon, a native of the San Miguelito district, had just beaten Kazakh Valentina Khalzova in the round of 16 and had to go all out in the quarterfinals to defeat Polish Elzbieta Wójcik (3-2).  “We are going for the yellow medal. We have worked hard,” said Bylon.  “This is the work of many years and sacrifices. This is the work of a team,” she added.  Atheyna Bylon is the first Panamanian athlete to win an Olympic medal. In addition, it is the first medal for Panamanian amateur boxing. She also joins Lloyd LaBeach and Irving Saladino as the only athletes from the Isthmus to win a medal at the Olympic Games.  Before 2012, the 35 year old Atheyna Bylon had never stepped foot in a boxing ring. Now, she is eyeing a spot in the history books after entering the middleweight final at the Paris Olympics, where she is guaranteed to become Panama’s first-ever female medallist.  Since 1948, Panama has won three medals at the Olympics, two bronzes and a gold, all of which have come in athletics.  “I’m ecstatic. I gave everything out there. It’s history. It’s so exciting. I’m the first medalist in boxing from Panama,” Bylon said.  “I am super happy, thanking God, because I’m achieving my goals. I’ve sacrificed a lot over many years and it’s paying off. I’m very happy because I’m taking a medal to Panama and maybe a gold medal on Saturday.