Olympic Gold Medal Given to Team USA Star 37 Years After ‘Robbery’

An American silver medallist has now received a gold more than three decades after fight.

An Olympic gold medal has been given to US star 37 years after a controversial ‘robbery’.

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Roy Jones Jr faced South Korea’s Park Si-hun for one in the middleweight boxing final. Jones dominated the fight throughout, landing 86 punches to Si Hun’s 32, as he constantly pressed forward,

But to the crowd’s immense shock, Si Hun was awarded a split-decision victory. The backlash was so strong that three of the five judges were suspended and the scandal became a catalyst for reforms within boxing.

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Although Jones missed out on the Olympic gold, he was awarded the Val Barker Trophy, which is given to the best boxer in the Games. Now, more than three decades, it appears Si-hun has taken it upon himself to put things right.

Si Hun, Roy Jones, Richard Woodhall. Image: John Iacono / Contributor via Getty

Jones revealed the the Korean’s gesture in a post on X.

He wrote: “In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history.

“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.”

How did Roy Jones Jr’s career progress?

Despite that controversial defeat in 1988, it did not stop Jones’ career from taking off in the 1990s.

He went on to win multiple world championships across four weight classes, including middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight.

One of his highlights came in 1994, when he fought the undefeated James Toney for the super middleweight title.

And in 2003, he stepped up to heavyweight and defeated John Ruiz by unanimous decision.

It meant he became the first former middleweight in more than 100 years to win a heavyweight championship.

Roy Jones fights Park Si-hun. Image: SUNKYU IM / Contributor via Getty

What boxing reforms were introduced after the fight?

In response to the controversial fight, in the 1990s, AIBA (the international amateur boxing body) introduced a computerised scoring system.

Instead of judges providing a subjective score for each round, the five judges would press a button when they saw a clean judge.

If at least three judges pressed the button within one second of each other, then it would be counted.

While it was intended to remove bias, it received criticism, as it was seen to discourage power in favour of high volume.

It was later scrapped, but its introduction showed the scale of anger among boxing fans at Jones’ Olympic robbery.