Mira Potkonen

Mira Potkonen medal table
Boxing
Finland Finland
Olympic games
bronze	2016	lightweight
World championships
bronze	2019	lightweight
bronze	2016	lightweight
European Games
gold	2019	lightweight
European championships
gold	2019	lightweight
gold	2018	lightweight
silver	2016	lightweight
EU championships
gold	2017	lightweight
bronze	2013	lightweight
bronze	2011	lightweight
bronze	2010	lightweight

Mira Potkonen (* 17th November 1980 in Heinävesi , Finland ) is a Finnish female boxer in the lightweight . She was runner-up European champion in 2016, European champion in 2018 and 2019, and also European game winner in 2019 and qualified as the first and so far only Finnish female boxer for the Olympic Games by winning a bronze medal in 2016 . She then won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Games, the first Olympic medal in this sport for Finland since Jyri Kjäll's bronze medal in 1992.

Boxing career

Mira Potkonen is around 1.65 m tall, started boxing in 2007 and trains in Tampereen Voimailuseura (TVS) in Tampere under Maarit Teuronen. In 2019, her balance sheet is 258 fights with 224 wins. She is Finnish champion in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and Northern European champion in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. She won EU championships in 2010 a bronze medal in Hungary , in 2011 in Poland and in 2013 in Hungary, as well as a gold medal in Italy in 2017 with a final victory against Kellie Harrington .

At the European Championships in 2011 in the Netherlands she was defeated before reaching the medal ranks against Denitsa Elisejewa and at the World Championships in China in 2012 against Adriana Araújo . They also eliminated at the European Championships 2014 in Romania against Sofya Otschigawa and reached at the World Championships in 2014 in South Korea 9th place after a defeat by Katie Taylor . In the opening battle of the 2015 European Games in Azerbaijan , she lost to Jana Aleksejewna .

At the 2016 World Championships in Kazakhstan , she was able to advance to the semi-finals against Sandra Brügger, Yin Junhua and Chantelle Cameron, where she was eliminated with a bronze medal against Anastassija Belyakova . With that she qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil , where she again won a bronze medal. In the preliminary round she had defeated the Brazilian home favorite Adriana Araújo and in the quarter-finals the five-time world champion Katie Taylor. This time she lost to Yin Junhua in the fight for the final. She ended the 2016 European Championships in Bulgaria by winning the silver medal after losing to Darja Abramova in the final , after previously beating Sandra Brügger, Julia Tsiplakowa and Sandy Ryan .

In the elections for Finland's Athlete of the Year 2016, she was the female athlete with the most votes, finishing third overall behind Leo-Pekka Tähti and Henri Kontinen .

In 2018 she won the European Championship in Bulgaria by victories against Irma Testa , Aneta Rygielska, Kellie Harrington and Anastassija Beljakowa and was thus also qualified for the 2018 World Championship in India . There she was able to defeat Anja Stridsman and Alla Jarschjewitsch before she was eliminated in the quarterfinals against Supaporn Srisondee.

In April 2019 she won the Cologne Boxing World Cup in Cologne . She defeated Sandra Brügger, Zichun Xu and Paige Murney. She won the 2019 European Games in Minsk with victories against Ala Jarschjewitsch, Anastassija Beljakowa and Kellie Harrington. In September 2019 she also won the gold medal at the European Championships in Spain. She defeated Paige Murney, Ala Jarschjewitsch, Amy Broadhurst and Maïva Hamadouche. She then took part in the 2019 World Championships in Russia, where she was able to defeat Sandra Brügger, Marie Palacios and Amy Broadhurst and was only eliminated in the semifinals against the Chinese Cong Wang, where she won her second World Cup bronze medal.

Potkonen has also won international tournaments in Finland, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Tunisia and India.

Awards

Finland's Boxer of the Year: 2011-2019

Private

Mira Potkonen is married with two children and lives in Nokia .

Web links

Individual evidence

personal data
SURNAME	Potkonen, Mira
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Finnish female boxer
DATE OF BIRTH	17th November 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH	Heinävesi , Finland

[1] Results of the EM 2011

[2] Results of the 2012 World Cup

[3] Results of the EM 2014

[4] Results of the 2014 World Cup

[5] Results of the ES 2015

[6] Results of the 2016 World Cup

[7] Results of the OS 2016

[8] Results of the EM 2016

[9] Finland's Sportsman of the Year 2016

[10] Results of the EM 2018

[11] Results of the 2018 World Cup

[12] Results of the World Cup in Cologne 2019

[13] European Games 2019

[14] European Championships 2019

[15] World Championships 2019