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Delicious Orie’s Olympic dreams went up in smoke as Britain’s great super-heavyweight hope became the latest to suffer a controversial exit at the North Paris Arena.
The 27-year-old dubbed ‘the next Anthony Joshua’ was seeded second in his weight division and appeared to be Team GB’s best chance of a boxing medal.
But the verdict of the judges in the last-16 bout against Davit Chaloyan went against him as he became the fourth British boxer to fall at the first hurdle.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “I’m absolutely gutted. For the past eight years, I’ve dreamt about that Olympic gold medal, and it’s been taken away from me.
“It could be me, it could be the judges, but at the end of the day, that’s what’s happened. I feel like I’ve let myself down and my family.”
Orie looked to be in control of his bout against the rangy Armenian, landing a string of heavy blows throughout each of the three-minute rounds.
He received a couple of his own in the third round but looked confident at the bell – until his expression turned to one of shock as the hand of his opponent was raised.
Wolverhampton’s Orie, who was born in Russia and moved to the UK aged seven, follows Charley Davison and Rosie Eccles in feeling robbed by an early exit.
Davison queried ‘what more could I do?’ following her defeat while Eccles insisted ‘a boxer knows when she’s won the fight – and I won the fight’.
Boxing’s future on the Olympic programme is on the ropes. The IOC stripped the International Boxing Association of the right to run the last two Olympic tournaments including this one, due to concerns over how bouts are judged.
A suitable new international boxing body needs to be found by early next year or the sport may find itself decked out on the LA 2028 canvas.
Whether Orie sticks to his plans to move into the professional ranks remains to be seen and he would not be drawn into the judging debate following his agonising loss.
“I’m not the one to say, I’m not a judge,” he said, “It’s too soon for me to start saying it’s fair or unfair. I thought I was hard done by it was very close and I thought I did enough.
“You can argue the same for Rosie and the same for Charley. I knew I had to go in strong and hard, but I didn’t want to overcommit myself. That was the result, I have to accept it and move on.”
Britain took home six boxing medals from Tokyo three years ago but sent a slimmed down squad of six fighters to Paris. The final two remaining, Chantelle Reid and Lewis Richardson, are in action on Wednesday.
Watch every moment of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics.
