Ornella Sathoud on Dispelling Perceptions
At the 2023 African Boxing Games Qualifiers in Dakar, Sathoud was one of the oldest female athletes.
As a young lady, she ran on the tracks at school in Gabon and dreamed of becoming a professional athlete.
She had her genes Ghanaian mother and he was always proud of her Congolese judoka father.
Even when she moved to Delaware, United States to continue her education, Sathoud never quite buried her sporting dreams. In fact, she drew on her athletic background to bolster her academic credentials.
Turn to kickboxingbut limited fighting opportunities for a middleweight dampened her passion for the sport.
This induction convinced her that she belonged in the ring. And Sathoud – who works as a process engineer at a semiconductor company – was undaunted by the stereotypes and stigma surrounding women’s boxing.
He told Olympics.com in Dakar, “There are misconceptions that smart people are not good at sports and people who are good at sports and not very smart. I was like, “That’s not true!” Because you have to be smart in a ring regardless.
“You have to think a little bit about what you’re doing, even though you’re using muscle memory, but it’s the same level of thinking you have to do. So they are both good together.”
The desire to compete competitively led her to decide to pursue an amateur career that quickly matured. She won the USA Golden Gloves at 80 kg, 83 kg and, more recently, when he lost weight to 75 kg before Paris 2024 qualifiers.
She decided to test her skills at a higher level.
“At the time, when I looked to represent an African country based on my heritage, I looked at Congo. But Congo didn’t seem to recognize the dual citizenship because I also have American citizenship,” he said.
“And also when I looked at boxing, there were a lot of female boxers, and they had some great former champions coming out of there as well.”