Sena Irie
入江 聖奈 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (2000-10-09) 9 October 2000 (age 23) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight(s) | Featherweight | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stance | Orthodox[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Sena Irie (入江 聖奈, Irie Sena, born 9 October 2000)[2] is a Japanese retired[3] amateur boxer who won a gold medal in the inaugural women's featherweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[4] She became the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.[5]
Irie was born in Yonago, Japan in 2000.[6] She took up boxing when she was seven years old at a local gym.[6] Irie was inspired to box from the sports manga television series Ganbare Genki, which features a character who wants to become a boxer.[7] She also took her inspiration from frogs.[7]
At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Irie beat Karriss Artingstall of Great Britain in the semi-finals of the women's featherweight, and then went on to beat Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines in the final to win the gold medal.[8][9] At the time of winning her gold medal, Irie was a university student at Nippon Sport Science University.[10][11] Irie later stated that she would retire from boxing after graduating,[7] with plans to work for a company making video games.[12]
In September 2022, she announced that she would retire from boxing after her graduation in spring 2023.[13]
