Robert Napunyi Wangila (September 3, 1966 — July 24, 1994) was a Kenyan

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who won a welterweight gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympic Games. he is the only Kenyan Olympic gold medalist outside

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and the only boxer from Sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa to have won Olympic gold.

Olympic results

*1st round bye *Defeated Đorđe Petronijević (Yugoslavia) RSC 2 *Defeated Khaidan Gantulga (Mongolia) TKO 2 *Defeated Khristo Furnigov (Bulgaria) 5-0 *Defeated Jan Dydak (Poland) walk-over *Defeated Laurent Boudouani (France) KO 2

Pro career

Wangila turned to professional boxing in 1989 and compiled a career record of 22-5-0.

Death

Wangila died from injuries received in a 1994 fight with David Gonzales in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Wangila had been beaten to such a bad condition that the referee

Joe Cortez Joe Cortez (born October 13, 1945) is an American former boxing referee who has officiated in many important world title bouts. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011. Biography Cortez is of Puerto Rican descent. H ...

stopped the match in favour of Gonzales, despite Wangila's fierce protests. After the match, Wangila lapsed into a coma in his dressing room. He was pronounced dead thirty-six hours later.Fightnews, June 9, 2004
"Fair but Firm" Joe Cortez this week on “In This Corner!”
Wallechinsky, David (2004). ''The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics'',

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: Sport Classic Books. Wangila had converted from

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

to Islam while in the United States, and his will requested that he be buried according to the wishes of his Muslim wife. Napunyi Wangila, married Queen Noble, May 16, 1992 until his death. The will was challenged by Wangila's family in Kenya, but a judge ruled in favor of a Muslim burial.

External links

*
Robert Wangila's profile at Sports Reference.com

References

1966 births 1994 deaths Converts to Islam from Christianity Sportspeople from Nairobi Olympic boxers of Kenya Boxers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Deaths due to injuries sustained in boxing Sports deaths in Nevada Olympic medalists in boxing Olympic gold medalists for Kenya Kenyan male boxers Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics African Games gold medalists for Kenya African Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 1987 All-Africa Games Welterweight boxers {{Kenya-boxing-bio-stub