Luca Hámori, in the women's 66 kilogram weight group, finished fifth in the boxing tournament of the Paris Olympics, after losing by unanimous decision to Imane Helif from Algeria, who caused a scandal with his performance, in Saturday's quarterfinals.
After the meeting, Hámori told M4 Sport that he really enjoyed every moment of the Olympics.
"Thank you very much for the congratulations, I expected a difficult battle, but I knew why I came here, I was like, whatever will happen, I did my best. I am happy that I made it this far, not only did I make it, but I also had two winning matches as the first female Hungarian boxer. We didn't discuss any special tactics with my coaches today, I gave myself, I tried not to be irregular, I respected my opponent. I felt that the victory was unfortunately not possible today, so I simply tried to enjoy every moment in the ring. I turned off notifications on my phone, shut out the outside world. MOB also helped me a lot, for which I cannot be grateful enough. I also received huge support from the people of Kőszegi, I don't care about the result now, I wish my opponent a lot of success," Hámori told M4 Sport.
Balázs Fürjes, the Hungarian member of the IOC, waved our Olympian's hand high in front of the TV camera and said that in the eyes of the Hungarians, Hámori is considered a champion. We Hungarians are on the side of fair competition, so it didn't even occur to Luca not to stand out.
We believe in heroic struggle. We know what it's like to fight against overwhelming power, the Paris boxing tournament has its lessons, we are sure that the IOC will make good decisions regarding the situation
Balázs Fürjes added.
Hámori later said the following to the journalists surrounding him:
“I think I was able to leave all my fears and doubts behind before entering the ring. I enjoyed every moment of the three times three minutes and I'm not disappointed for a second because I got this far and did everything I could. I think I could have had a chance, but this is how it turned out. I tried to behave in a sportsmanlike manner, just like my opponent, you can't say a single bad word to him, he can't do anything about the situation, and he was very sportsmanlike. This situation did not spoil my Olympics at all."
The Hungarian boxer's opponent burst into tears
After the match and his victory, Imane Helif went through the mixed zone without stopping, which was also open to journalists reporting from the scene, and there were dozens, almost a hundred media workers waiting for him. Helif did not stop even for the Algerian journalists.
Someone from the crowd spoke to him and his coach, to which the latter responded with only half a word, and then he also stormed off with his student.
Viktor Orbán also congratulated Hámori
"Like the women of Eger in the past..." wrote the Hungarian Prime Minister on his social media page after the announcement of the results.
Featured image: Anna Luca Hámori in the quarterfinals of the women's 66 kilogram weight class at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics at the Arena Nord in Paris on August 3, 2024. Luca Hámori finished in fifth place after losing to Iman Helif with a unanimous score. MTI/Zsolt Czeglédi
