Team USA's welterweight Omari Jones defeated Bulgaria's unseeded Rami Kiwan in their quarterfinal bout at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday, ensuring (at least) a bronze medal — and setting up a semifinal bout with Uzbekistani Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev.
Boxing is one of the rare Olympic sports that awards two bronze medals per contested event — one for each losing semifinalist on opposing sides of the bracket.
Hours later, featherweight Jahmal Harvey — the 21-year-old who had won World Boxing Championship gold in 2021 — lost a hard-fought quarterfinal to Kyrgyzstan's Munarbek Uulu. After receiving a bye through the Round of 32, Harvey defeated Brazil's Luiz Oliveira by split decision on Thursday.
Jones, 21, will become the first American welterweight since Kenneth Gould at the 1988 Seoul Olympics to claim a medal in men's 71kg/156lb weight class.
Which medal, however, remains unclear: If he loses his semifinal bout against Muydinkhujaev (the 2023 Boxing World Championship gold medalist), Jones is awarded bronze. Should he win that fight and proceed to the final — where he'd face either Great Britain's Lewis Richardson or Mexico's No. 2 seed, Marco Verde — the American would either serve as the weight class' runner-up or its victor.
Put simply: Winning the Aug. 8 semifinal earns Jones Olympic silver. Winning the Aug. 10 final makes him an Olympic champion.
Finally, the 2024 Paris Olympics boxing semifinals took place Saturday — with women's lightweights (60kg/132lbs) the first to determine who will compete in the finals.
On one side of the bracket, No. 1 seed Yang Wenlu of China scored a unanimous victory over Taiwan's Wu Shih-yi.
The opposite side of the bracket saw Ireland's reigning gold medalist Kellie Harrington defeat Brazil's Beatriz Ferreira, 4-1, in a rematch of the Tokyo 2020 Games' championship bout.
Harrington and Yang square off for gold on Tuesday, Aug. 6. Despite their semifinal losses, Wu Shih-yi and Ferreira will both receive Olympic bronze for their achievements.