USA Boxing Converts Abandoned Department Store Into National Training Gym for Preparations for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

When the boxers of the USA
Boxing Olympic Qualification Team arrived in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
this week they walked into a new training facility with just over six
months left until the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and even less time to their
qualification tournaments.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, USA Boxing athletes have not been
allowed to train in the national boxing gym at the United States Olympic
and Paralympic Training Center (USOPTC) since March 2020 and have had to
continue to make adjustments to their training plans, which included
training at the French National Training Center in Paris in late 2020.

After being told they would not be allowed to begin 2021 at the USOPTC, the
coaching and national office staff had to find a new home to begin the
final preparations for the qualification tournaments taking place in May
and June.

“After spending most of 2020 waiting to be allowed entry back into our
national gym at the Colorado Springs OPTC, it was time that we took matters
into our own hands and established a training space that can properly
accommodate our team’s training needs,” said Matt Johnson, USA Boxing High
Performance Director.

USA Boxing ended 2020 and the beginning of 2021 moving all equipment, which
included four boxing rings, numerous heavy bags and strength and
conditioning equipment, from their gym at the USOPTC to an abandoned
department store in a mall in Colorado Springs to hold training camps,
while housing the boxers and coaching staff at the nearby Hotel Eleganté.

“We are able to continue to move forward in this COVID environment by
applying multi-layer protection protocols, pre-travel testing, mandatory
mask wearing, social distancing, regular cleaning, regular rapid antigen
testing, daily health surveys and follow up PRC pool testing, as well as
provide a top notch training facility in our temporary facility, which we
are greatly thankful for John Bushman, owner of Hotel Eleganté and the
training facility, to help provide these opportunities to our boxers,”
stated Mike McAtee, USA Boxing Executive Director.

“The training facility and environment we have created has greatly reduced
the risk to our boxers and coaches. USA Boxing strives to fulfill our
stated mission to our boxers, ‘… (to) inspire the tireless pursuit of
Olympic gold and enable our boxers and coaches to achieve sustained
competitive excellence…’ in the face of a worldwide pandemic.”

The first training camp of 2021 began Jan. 14 and will run until Feb. 18,
before the boxers head to Bulgaria and Spain for international
competitions. USA Boxing will hold the final training camp before the
America’s Olympic Qualification Tournament at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete
Training Center, in Chula Vista, Calif., in another makeshift boxing gym,
which held the final training camp of 2020 in November.

*INFORMATION:*

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