Waterloo student competes in Olympic quarter final despite illness

Mandy Bujold was lying in a hospital bed just one hour before her Olympic quarter-final boxing match. The Waterloo Liberal Studies student was being treated with an IV after getting a stomach bug the night before. She left the hospital at 9:30 a.m.; her match was scheduled for 10:15.

“It was frustrating, knowing you work your whole life for this,” Bujold told Greg Mercer of The Record. “Earlier, at the hospital, I looked at my coach like, ‘I don't know what to do. Should I get into the ring, feeling like this?' But I knew I couldn't quit like this. I was at least going to get into the ring."

Bujold, a medal favourite in the women’s flyweight category, squared off against Yodgoroy Mirzaeva of Uzbekistan in the preliminaries on August 12. As the winner of this bout, she competed against China’s Cancan Ren in the quarterfinals on August 16 but, despite a hard-fought match in tough circumstances, fell to the reigning Olympic silver medalist by unanimous decision.

Based out of Kitchener, Bujold began boxing at the age of 16 and won her first junior national title at 19. Her gold medal win at the 2011 Pan American Games is a career highlight, as it was the first time women’s boxing was included in the Games. She then successfully defended her title at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, winning gold again last summer.

Watch CBC’s Mandy Bujold: My Moment below and support her Olympic journey with #MandyMadness.

Congratulations, Mandy, on your achievements. You have done Waterloo proud!