became our first gold medalist of the event. Claressa Shields, a 17-year-old from Flint, Mich. This was the first time we were able to see women box in competition after years of resistance. Women dominated in ways you can’t place on a pie chart. Women also out-medaled men and provided some of the greatest moments of the Games, but to leave it at simple statistics and trivia would be hollow. For as much as 2012 was a year to celebrate London and English culture, it was just as much a year to celebrate women at the Games.įor the first time in history the U.S.