USVI Boxer Beats Experienced German Contender At Rio Olympics; Advances To Quarter Finals

Clayton Laurent Jr., of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands defeated the experienced Erik Pfeifer of Germany in the men’s super-heavyweight boxing at the Riocentro yesterday, as he made prominent the U.S. Virgin Islands at the Rio Olympics that’s often dominated by big countries.

Mr. Laurent won 2-1 on points to advance to the quarter-finals of the 91-kilogramme category. The judges scored 29-28, 28-29, 30-27 in Mr. Clayton’s favor.

The 26-year-old, whose step-brothers John and Julius Jackson both turned out at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said the victory was not only a sporting one but a personal one as well.

“It was an overwhelming feeling. I cried on my way out of the ring,” an emotional Laurent said afterward.

“It’s just always hard work, dedication. I have an eight-to-five job at home and I still come to the gym — through injuries, not having enough money to pay bills and do different things.

“So now I come here to the Olympics I am living my dream. It’s just a really good feeling. I won one fight today when a lot of people counted me out. But I’m here to show the people that the Virgin Islands are here.”

He added: “God is good and with God all things are possible. I hope I made my dad proud, my brothers proud, my whole family, my city, my island, my country and I hope to continue going and do my best.”

Also from the U.S. Virgin Islands, sailor Cy Thompson is now #9 of 46 after races 3 and 4 of 10, according to the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee. Today, Mr. Thompson will be sailing races 5 and 6; and USVI swimmer Rex Tullius will be in the Men’s Backstroke competition at 12:25 p.m.

In other Caribbean results yesterday, Dylan Carter of Trinidad and Tobago won heat four of the men’s 100 metres freestyle in a new national record time of 48.80 seconds but it was not enough to earn him a semi-final spot in his Olympic debut.

He was 23rd overall with Kyle Chalmers of Australia qualifying with the fastest time of 47.90.

In rowing, Emily Morley of the Bahamas finished third in her women’s single sculls semi-final race and will compete in the E/F final.

Morley returned a time of eight minutes, 46.09 seconds in her semi-final race.

Also advancing to the semi-finals in the women’s single sculls were Michelle Pearson of Bermuda and Felice Chow of Trinidad & Tobago.

Pearson (7:34.90) and Chow (8:02.53) will race in the C/D semi-final.

Cameron Pimentel of Bermuda finished 27th in the opening series of men’s laser race four of sailing at Marina da Gloria. Cy Thompson of the USVI and Andrew Lewis of Trinidad and Tobago finished 35th and 36th respectively.

In the women’s race, Stephane Lovell of St Lucia finished 33rd, Cecilia Wollman of Bermuda in 35th and Cayman’s Florence Allan followed, 36th.

Sources: Virgin Islands Olympic Committee, Stabroek News and the official Rio Olympics leaderboard.

Feature Image: U.S. Virgin Islands’s Clayton Laurent Jr., lands a punch against Erik Pfeifer of Germany in the men’s super-heavyweight boxing at the Riocentro on Tuesday. 

Correction: August 10, 2016

A previous version of this story reversed the name of the winning boxer. It is Clayton Laurent Jr., not Laurent Clayton Jr. The story has been updated to reflect the correction information.