Paris 2024 Olympics
A qualification for the history books
At only 19 years old, Sunniva qualified for her first Olympic Games.
In doing this, she wrote her name in the history books yet another time; she is the first female form Norway to ever qualify for the Olympic Games in Boxing. When Sunniva qualified, she was also the youngest participant in her class, with the rest averaging at 27 years of age.
Sparring with the Olympic chamipon
After her qualification in March of 2024, she continued her preparations for the upcoming Games. The preparations took place in Canada, with the reigning World Champion, and also in France, with top athletes from all over the world. She had great sparring and was well prepared. During the camp in France she also sparred to Olympic-Champion-to-be: Li Qiang form China, and let’s just say we would’ve loved to the that fight go down in Paris.
The preparations for an Olympic athlete does not only include training, it’s a lot of things that must be in place when traveling to the Olympics. This includes medical checks, packing, clothing rules, advertisement rules, media training, media exposure, team orientation, and more. The National Olympic Center in Norway takes good care of their athletes, and are with them every step of the way to ensure optimization and the highest chance of medals. Sunniva has described this time as exciting, and a great learning experience to have as an athlete.
Upon entering the Olympics village, where all the athletes stay, the team got settled in and the Games begun.
The Fight
Sunniva drew India’s Lovlina Borgohain in her first bout, a former World Champion and an experienced boxer. The Indian boxer entered the ring full of confidence and smiled through the whole bout. Sunniva did her best, although we have seen her better and sharper before. She ended up losing the first two rounds, and even though she won the last one, it was not enough to proceed to the next stage of the tournament. Sunniva and her team had done all they could do, but they still have a lot to learn. Sunniva herself sums it up like this: “I am not happy with my performance, but I did all that I could today, and I’ll just have to learn what I can and keep on working”. She says her biggest lesson was this:
Learning how to keep her composure and stay confident on the big stage.
But Sunniva is not afraid to look at her shortcomings, instead she faces them head on. In the team they have an anectode about the Bison: «When a storm is coming, some run away from the storm to try toescape it. This only leaves them longer in the storm, longer in a state they don’t want to be in. The Bison however, they run towards the storm, they run through it. This way they get to the other side of it, and can back in the sun.» Sunniva, like the Bison, runs toward what’s uncomfortable, so that she may come out stronger on the other side of it. She has been working with her mental coach and the rest of her team, to ensure the best possible contidions for performance when it counts.
When can we go again?
After her initial Olympic Games Sunniva learned what it means to compete in the Olympics. It’s not like anything else, and it’s not like anything she has been part of before. In 2028 we will se a more mature and calm Sunniva entering the ring, she will have learned to save up her energy more, even when there are a lot of things on demand for it. Lessons learned at the Olympics are golds worth, and as we know Sunniva, she will have used it all to enhance herself and her team.
2028 is coming up, and Sunniva is as hungry as ever.
