A hundred times, a thousand times, he could have given up and definitively turned the page on Olympic boxing. But a small inner voice convinced Victor Schelstraete to put all his energy into a final attempt to reach the Olympic Games. Well done: the 28-year-old from Ghent is now qualified for Paris 2024!
This Sunday, our representative in -92kg won his third consecutive fight in Bangkok, during the second world Olympic qualifying tournament, an indisputable success (5-0) in the quarter-finals against the French Soheb Bouafia offering him one of the four Quota places available in this weight category.
gull“A year ago, I couldn’t walk. And today I’m an Olympian!
”A year ago, I could no longer walk after a ruptured Achilles tendon. And today I am an Olympian”, summarizes this athlete measuring 1m90. Who actually found the moral strength and determination to bounce back after this terrible twist of fate that occurred on May 16, 2023 in training when he had just made his professional debut.
His participation in the first qualifying tournament for Paris, organized last February in Italy, was cut short with the elimination of the works of the Georgian Giorgi Kushitashvil.
Back to work, then, for three months with his trainer Hubert Firens and his friend Vasile Usturoi, the featherweight already qualified for the Games, and new training courses in Germany and Cuba.
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In Thailand, Victor Schelstraete was ready to seize his chance and he did it with both hands. By first dismissing the Jordanian Odai Alhindawi (4-1) when he entered the competition then the Armenian Narek Manasyan (4-1) in the round of 16.
Finally, against Bouafia, he put all his heart and all his experience into these three three-minute rounds which were unanimously awarded to him by the judges. His management of distance and movement as well as his shot selection were perfect.
Already world medal
”What didn’t work for me in Tokyo worked this time. I have to pinch myself but it’s not a dream: I’m definitely going to Paris!” reacted the friendly boxer in whom his coach never stopped believing.
It must be said that the man had already written a page in the history of Belgian boxing, in 2021, by winning our country’s first medal at the amateur world championships in Belgrade. A bronze medal in -86kg which, until this weekend, constituted his greatest achievement in this sport which he discovered at 17 years old.
“During my downtime, I reflected on my style, then strengthened my weak points”, he explained in an interview with COIB. “The Olympics are the biggest stage and that’s where I have to create my masterpiece…”
