is a Japanese

amateur boxer Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

who won a gold medal in the inaugural women's featherweight event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. She became the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.

Biography

Irie was born in

Yonago is a Cities of Japan, city in western Tottori Prefecture, Japan, facing the Sea of Japan and making up part of the boundary of Nakaumi, Lake Nakaumi. It is adjacent to Shimane Prefecture and across the lake from its capital of Matsue. It is the p ...

, Japan in 2000. She took up boxing when she was seven years old at a local gym. Irie was inspired to box from the

sports manga is a genre of Japanese manga and anime that focuses on stories involving sports and other athletic and competitive pursuits. Though Japanese animated works depicting sports were released as early as the 1920s, sports manga did not emerge as a di ...

television series ''

Ganbare Genki is a Japanese sports manga by Yū Koyama about Genki Horiguchi, a boy who is raised by a single father, and who wants to be a boxer like him. It was adapted as an anime television series by Toei Animation. The manga received the Shogakukan Ma ...

'', which features a character who wants to become a boxer. She also took her inspiration from frogs. At the

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 Nesthy Alcayde Petecio (born April 11, 1992) is a Philippines, Filipino amateur boxer. She won a silver medal in the inaugural Boxing at the 2020 Summer Olympics - Women's featherweight, women's featherweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, b ...

of the Philippines in the final to win the gold medal. At the time of winning her gold medal, Irie was a university student at

Nippon Sport Science University , abbreviated as , is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo and Aoba-ku, Yokohama. The precursor of the school was founded in 1893, and it was chartered as a university in 1949. The school is known for the many famous athletes among its alumni. ...

. Irie later stated that she would retire from boxing after graduating, with plans to work for a company making video games. In September 2022, she announced that she would retire from boxing after her graduation in spring 2023.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irie, Sena 2000 births Living people Japanese women boxers Olympic boxers of Japan Boxers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Tottori Prefecture Olympic medalists in boxing Olympic gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics