Jennifer Lehane

Jennifer "Jenny" Lehane, born on 19 August 1998, is an Irish amateur boxer who made history by becoming the first female bantamweight boxer from Ireland to compete in the Olympic Games at Paris 2024. Before turning to boxing, she was a taekwondo competitor, earning European championships in 2018 and 2019. Lehane began boxing while studying primary school teaching at Dublin City University (DCU), where she won the Irish National Elite Championships in 2021. This achievement led her to join the Irish Amateur Boxing Association's High Performance Unit. Lehane made her international boxing debut for Ireland in April 2022, securing a bronze medal at the Nicolae Linca Golden Belt tournament in Romania. After completing her degree, she briefly worked as a primary school teacher before focusing full-time on boxing. At the 2023 European Games in Poland, she lost to eventual gold medalist Stanimira Petrova from Bulgaria in the quarter-finals. In March 2024, Lehane suffered an early loss at the World Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament 1 in Italy, falling to French boxer Romane Moulai on a split decision. However, she bounced back by qualifying for the 2024 Olympics at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament 2 in Thailand later that month. She secured her place with three wins, culminating in a unanimous victory over Hungary's Hanna Lakotar. Lehane was officially confirmed as part of Ireland's boxing team on 28 June 2024. At the Olympics, she received a bye into the second round and lost by unanimous decision to China's Chang Yuan, a 2018 ...