Thursday, August 9 2012 5:37 PM EDT2012-08-09 21:37:35 GMT
(08/09/12) - The Olympic party started at 5 a.m. at Flint Northwestern High School, with Claressa Shields' Wildcat classmates ready to cheer her on during the biggest fight of her life. "Claressa,
The Olympic party started at 5 a.m. at Flint Northwestern High School, with Claressa Shields' Wildcat classmates ready to cheer her on during the biggest fight of her life.
FLINT (WJRT) -
(08/09/12) - There were cheers from Mid-Michigan and beyond Thursday afternoon for Flint's own boxing star Claressa Shields.
She won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in London.
The 17-year-old Flint Northwestern student beat her Russian opponent 19 to 12.
Now, the celebration begins.
Claressa said she was going to London for nothing less than gold, and she got exactly that. The soon-to-be senior in high school is the first American woman to win a gold medal in boxing. After an even first round, Claressa dominated Nadezda Torlopova over the final three periods, leaving no doubt that she deserved to be the middle weight Gold Medalist.
The judges agreed, scoring it 19-12 in favor of the newest Flintstone.
Claressa's family was on hand at Blackstone's in downtown Flint for the public watch party, and as you can imagine, they were ecstatic.
Claressa is the first Flint native to win a gold medal since Jim Abbott led the USA baseball team to the gold in 1988.
