A 'delicious' super-heavyweight & comeback queen - meet Team GB boxers

Team GB has selected six boxers to represent the nation at Paris 2024

A place on the Olympic podium is the dream for any young, aspiring boxer.

From Muhammad Ali to Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather to Oleksandr Usyk - the list of elite Olympic and world-title double winners goes on.

In Britain and Ireland, the likes of Amir Khan, Anthony Joshua, Katie Taylor and Lauren Price have used the platform of Olympic success to shine as professionals.

But even reaching the Olympics is some feat, requiring years of dedication and proving you are the best your nation has to offer.

BBC Sport speaks to the six Team GB boxers selected to take part in Paris 2024.

Mopeds & training in secret - welterweight Rosie Eccles

Newport-born Eccles used to train in secret but is now heading to her first Olympics

Welshwoman Rosie Eccles, 27, fell in love with boxing aged 15 when she walked into a boxercise class.

A coach told her there was a gym in Newport - about 13 miles away from her home - and to come back in a year's time.

At 16, Eccles bought a moped so she could keep her early morning trips to the gym a secret from her family and friends.

"I used to sneak out of my house at 3am. I went to bed fully clothed. I wheeled my moped down the drive because it sounded like a hairdryer," she says.

"I'd ride about 45 minutes to the boxing gym. He'd meet me at the door. I'd train and then I'd ride back home and get back to bed and pretend to wake up for school. I did it twice a week."

Fuelled by her dream of becoming an Olympian, Eccles won over the people around her and began to excel.

But she missed out on a place at Tokyo 2020 after contracting coronavirus three times.

"That really broke me," she says. "It was horrendous but it made me realise I wasn't done."

The 'super-mum' - bantamweight Charley Davison

Suffolk's Davison took up boxing aged eight and used to spar her father's friends in the living room

Davison, 30, juggles boxing with raising her three children, aged 12, 10 and eight. She fully embraces the 'super mum' tag and hopes her story can inspire others to follow their dreams.

Davison took a seven-year hiatus after giving birth to her first child.

"I watched the 2012 Olympics with him in his little chair. I still had that fire in my belly. I knew then it wasn't time to give up," she says.

Davison returned to boxing in 2018 - two years after the birth of her third child - and picked up where she left off.

She qualified for Tokyo 2020 and reached the second round, but is hoping a move up from flyweight to bantamweight will produce a medal this time round.

"I need to get on that podium so I can give the kids that medal," she says.

From GB to Paris, via Russia - super-heavyweight Delicious Orie

Birmingham's Orie won a title at England Boxing National Championships in 2018, two years after first taking up the sport

Born in Moscow to a Nigerian father and Russian mother, Orie moved to the United Kingdom aged seven.

"I remember being different [in Russia] from everyone else, skin-colour wise," Orie, 27, says.

He could not speak a word of English when he started primary school in year four, but excelling at education and making his parents proud was "the most important aspect" of his life.

In 2020, Orie graduated with a first class honours degree in economics and management at Aston University.

As a sportsman, Orie found himself at a crossroads when a childhood dream of playing professional basketball did not materialise.

"Then I saw Anthony Joshua on TV. I thought to myself who is this guy? He looks good. I want to give it a go," he says.

Like Joshua, Orie found his calling and only began boxing aged 18. He signalled his Olympic potential with a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The grafter - light-middleweight Lewis Richardson

Richardson first stumbled across a boxing club when walking with a group of friends on his council estate

Richardson, 27, slumped to the canvas after securing qualification for Paris in May.

"It was such a special moment and I hope it lives with me forever. One of the best days of my life," he says.

The Colchester fighter's story is one of graft and perseverance.

"I struggled to get on to the England set-up and GB set-up as a junior, youth and senior," he adds.

Richardson missed out on qualification on Tokyo and when the middleweight division was omitted from Paris, he had two choices - turn professional or cut down to light-middleweight.

Despite having not weighed 71kg since he was a teenager, Richardson continued in the amateur set-up. He even self-funded a tournament in Portugal to gain experience in the new division.

"I'm so thankful I did make that decision because I can now forever call myself an Olympian," he says.

The comeback queen - middleweight Chantelle Reid

Derby's Reid only returned to the sport in 2023 having taking six years out after suffering a back injury

Combat sports is all Reid, 26, has ever known. She started kickboxing aged five with her dad as her coach.

"Unfortunately kickboxing is not an Olympic sport and I transitioned into boxing at 14," she says.

"I had my first boxing bout at the European championships when I got a gold, as a junior."

But Reid's Olympic dreams appeared to shatter when she was diagnosed with a generative disc disease aged 18.

"I was advised to never box again and that I could end up in a wheelchair," she explains.

Reid says working a nine-to-five job handing out mortgage advice "wasn't for me".

But after helping her dad with coaching in the gym, she noticed her back was no longer in pain and was given the all clear to return to boxing.

"The six-year break did me good," she says. "My body rested, I recovered and I got stronger. After a year, I qualified for the Olympics."

A future Mancunian star - heavyweight Patrick Brown

Boxing runs in Brown's family - his father runs a gym and both his younger brothers have also boxed

Mancunian Brown, 24, is hoping to emulate two of the city’s boxing legends - Anthony Crolla and Ricky Hatton.

"Watching them really spurred me on as a kid," he says.

Brown first attended Sale West boxing club aged seven, and 10 years ago his dad began running the gym.

After the Covid pandemic stalled his promising amateur career, Brown began training at Moss Side Fire Station.

"It's an actual fire station," Brown says. "[Trainer] Nigel Travis was a fireman himself and he decided to create a gym.

"There are loads of fire engines there and everything and it's open to the community."

His talent captured the attention of Team GB coaches and Brown has won two national titles and qualified for Paris within just two years of being part of the podium squad.

"[Coach] Rob McCracken said I'm the joint-fastest to be a GB athlete and become an Olympian. The other is Anthony Joshua," Brown says.