17岁的高中三年级学生克拉雷莎•希尔斯（Claressa Shields），左）可能成为奥运会最新比赛项目上美国队一颗最明亮的希望之星。

2009年8月，国际奥林匹克委员会（International Olympic Committee）投票将女子拳击项目列入2012年伦敦奥运会比赛项目，突破了体育运动中最顽固的性别障碍之一。希尔斯决心抓住这个机会。她对《今日美国》报（USA Today）说：“我对拳击运动投入了5年，5年半。我要去奥运会。”

她的毅力和才能显而易见。她于2月份进入第一次美国奥运会女子拳击选拔赛时，是比赛中最年轻的选手。她在165磅（74.8公斤）级比赛中，以压倒性胜利战败了卫冕国家冠军弗朗孔•克鲁斯（Franchon Crews）和2010年世界冠军安德烈西亚•沃森（Andrecia Wasson）以及其他赛手，并被命名为那次锦标赛中的最杰出运动员。

她将自己的拳击生涯归功于曾经是街头斗士的父亲的激励。她对《今日美国》报说，在奥运会选拔赛之后，“我爸爸老泪纵横”。她说，父亲为她感到的骄傲增添了她在拳击场上的信心。她说：“我不是希望得胜。我是真正要得胜。”

Seventeen-year-old high school junior Claressa Shields (seen here, at left) could be the brightest U.S. hope in the Olympics’ newest sport: women’s boxing.

In August 2009, the International Olympic Committee voted to include women’s boxing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, thus breaking one of the sturdiest gender barriers in sports. Shields is determined to take advantage of that opening, telling a USA Today reporter: “I put five, five and a half years into boxing. I’m going to the Olympics.”

Her grit and talent are apparent. When she entered the first U.S. Olympic trials for women’s boxing in February, she was the tournament’s youngest boxer. She won the 165-pound (74.8-kilogram) weight class with crushing victories over reigning national champion Franchon Crews and 2010 world champion Andrecia Wasson, among other contenders, and was named the tournament’s most outstanding athlete.

She credits her father, a former street fighter, as inspiration for her boxing career. “My dad was shedding tears” after the Olympic trials, Shields told USA Today. His pride in her, she said, boosts her confidence in the boxing ring: “I’m not hoping to win. I really want to win.”