Jolly Katongole (15 December 1985 – 14 May 2015) was a boxer from

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

, who participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics for his native

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n country. Katongole debuted with the national team at the age of 16. He won the bronze medal at the

2003 All-Africa Games The 8th All Africa Games were 5–17 October 2003 in Abuja, Nigeria. 53 countries participated in 23 sports. The main venue was the newly constructed Abuja Stadium. The organizing committee was headed by Nigerian Amos Adamu. Venues * Nation ...

Abuja, Nigeria Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a ...

. Katongole qualified for the Athens Olympics by winning the gold medal at the

1st AIBA African 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament The 1st AIBA African 2004 Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournament was held in Casablanca, Morocco from January 15 to January 22, 2004 in sports, 2004. It was the first chance for amateur boxing, amateur boxers from Africa to qualify for the 2004 Summ ...

Casablanca, Morocco Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econo ...

. In the final of the event he defeated Morocco's

Redouane Bouchtouk Redouane Bouchtouk (born December 19, 1976) is a boxer from Morocco who participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics for his native North African country. At these games he was stopped in the first round of the Light Flyweight (48 kg) division ...

. At the Olympics, he was stopped in the first round of the light flyweight (– 48 kg) division by

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

's eventual runner-up Atagün Yalçınkaya. Following his defeat, Katongole deserted the Ugandan delegation and remained illegally in Greece until he was deported. He struggled with substance abuse issues until his death in 2015, reportedly of

tetanus Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually ...

References

1985 births 2015 deaths Light-flyweight boxers Olympic boxers of Uganda Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Ugandan male boxers African Games bronze medalists for Uganda African Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 2003 All-Africa Games Sportspeople from Kampala {{Uganda-boxing-bio-stub