Dalian update: is there an Olympian in the house?

During one of the class breaks at university yesterday, I started a conversation in the corridor with a student from Mongolia, who - I was told - is a boxer. A young guy named Gesrl and he claims to have been part of the Mongolian olympic boxing team in Beijing two years ago. Wow, that would be quite a feat, indeed! He explained, in broken English, that he fought at light flyweight (-48kg) and was eliminated in his second fight at the Beijing olympics by a boxer from Kazakhstan. He does not know exactly how many bouts he has under his belt, but definitely more than a hundred and he won "about" 75 of them. Mongolian competition is fierce, he added. Meanwhile, he has had to quit boxing because of a bad back. So, today the former olympian is studying Mandarin in the class nextdoor here in Dalian.

A beautiful story. Perhaps too beautiful, so I went online the minute I got home and browsed the Beijing result lists. My suspicions were confirmed straightaway. A Mongolian boxer with a different name grabbed the silver medal at light flyweight, which means my schoolmate could not even have taken part in that weight category. In each category a country can be represented by just one fighter. Maybe my schoolmate mixed up the weight classes? Nope, there is no mentioning of any Mongolian flyweight (-51kg), and in the bantams (-54kg) a Mongolian became olympic champion... but obviously not my pal here.

This morning I bumped into him and asked him again. Yes, yes, Beijing olympics, the category till 48kg, beaten by Kazakh fighter in second round. "Are you also a boxer?"

I don't get it. Tonight someone told me Mongolians are masters in telling stories. Well, than my dearest Gesrl is certainly an olympic champion in that discipline!!


Links

Beijing 2008 boxing results
Wikipedia on Mongolian 2008 olympic team