Boxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics

The boxing program at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China took place at the Workers Indoor Arena. Competitors from around the world came together to compete in eleven different weight classes, each one for male boxers only. These games were special because they were the last time only men could compete in boxing at the Olympics. After this, the International Olympic Committee decided to include female boxing events starting with the 2012 London Olympics.

In boxing at the Olympics, things work a little differently from other sports. Instead of having a match to decide who gets the bronze medal, both boxers who lose in the semi-finals get to share the bronze medal. This means that reaching the quarter-finals is like fighting for a bronze medal, the semi-finals are like fighting for silver, and the final is for the gold. Because of this special rule, there were 44 medals given out in total, with 22 of them being bronze.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	2	1	1	4
2	Russia	2	0	1	3
3	Italy	1	1	1	3
4	Mongolia	1	1	0	2
	Thailand	1	1	0	2
6	Great Britain	1	0	2	3
7	Kazakhstan	1	0	1	2
	Ukraine	1	0	1	2
9	Dominican Republic	1	0	0	1
10	Cuba	0	4	4	8
11	France	0	2	1	3
12	Ireland	0	1	2	3
13	Armenia	0	0	1	1
	Azerbaijan	0	0	1	1
	India	0	0	1	1
	Mauritius	0	0	1	1
	Moldova	0	0	1	1
	South Korea	0	0	1	1
	Turkey	0	0	1	1
	United States	0	0	1	1
Totals (20 entries)		11	11	22	44

Medal summary

The boxing events at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place in Beijing, China, at the Workers Indoor Arena. Competitors competed in eleven different weight classes, all for male boxers. These games were also the last time only men could compete in Olympic boxing, as women were allowed to join in the 2012 London Olympics.

Events

• Light flyweight (−48 kg)
• Flyweight (48–51 kg)
• Bantamweight (51–54 kg)
• Featherweight (54–57 kg)
• Lightweight (57–60 kg)
• Light welterweight (60–64 kg)
• Welterweight (64–69 kg)
• Middleweight (69–75 kg)
• Light heavyweight (75–81 kg)
• Heavyweight (81–91 kg)
• Super heavyweight (+91 kg)

Qualifying criteria

Each country could send up to one boxer for each weight class. The host nation, China, had special rules for how many boxers they could enter. Some spots were also decided at big boxing tournaments and events around the world.

The main ways boxers could earn a spot were through the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships and other tournaments held in different parts of the world like Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. There was also a tournament just for Oceania in 2008.

* Two additional places will be awarded by Tripartite Invitation Commission, so the athlete quota will be 286

Participating nations

The boxing events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, took place at the Workers Indoor Arena. Athletes from many countries around the world competed in eleven different weight classes, all for men only. This was the last time women were not included in Olympic boxing until new events for women were added in the 2012 London Olympics.