Bianca Elmir

Bianca "Bam Bam" Elmir (born 24 July 1982) is an Australian boxer from Canberra, ACT.[1] She has been the Australian Flyweight Champion and the Oceania Boxing Bantamweight Champion. Since starting to box in 2009, Elmir has aimed for one thing: to compete in the Olympics.[2]

Bianca Elmir
Personal information
Full nameBianca Elmir
Nickname(s)Bam Bam
NationalityAustralian
Born (1982-07-24) 24 July 1982
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Height157 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Weight57 kg (126 lb)
Updated on 13 November 2015.

Outside of boxing, Elmir has been an executive assistant to an Australian state politician, ACT Greens politician Amanda Bresnan: She's a part of the green team and a part of our family, (Amanda Bresnan).[3]

She has also spent a year working as a volunteer for a Youth Empowerment Programme for Restless Development in the rural Eastern Cape in South Africa.[4] Elmir is currently studying for a Masters in Globalisation, working with at-risk youth in Canberra and as a boxing coach and trainer.

Career

Boxing

Bianca has always been passionate about sports and began playing soccer at an early age. In 2003, Elmir's soccer coach suggested that she try a sport with more aggression and suggested she take up a contact sport such as kick-boxing. That began her kick boxing career which took her to the top of Australian Kick Boxing and Muay Thai.[5]

In 2009 Elmir crossed over into boxing and very soon after that won the Oceania Championships in 2010 and the Australia Flyweight Championships in 2010 and 2011. She also won the best women's boxer trophy at the 2011 Bee Gee International Boxing Tournament in Finland.[6] Elmir then focused on training for the London 2012 Olympics.

In February 2012, she won the 51-kilogram division at the Australian National Boxing Championships held in Hobart, Tasmania. However, after testing positive to banned diuretics furosemide and amiloride, she was stripped of this title.[7] She had taken a diuretic before a long haul flight from Ireland to Australia to reduce swelling in her ankles and unbeknownst to her, it contained the two banned substances.[8] Elmir was slapped with a 12-month doping ban just 14 hours before flying to China for the women's world championships in April 2012. This disqualified her from competing at the London Olympics in 2012.[9]

Since then, Elmir has been based at Stockade Training Center in Canberra and has focused on coaching both male and female boxers.[10] In April 2014, she competed in the Commonwealth Games trials in Fremantle, Perth but did not qualify.[11] After this competition she changed her boxing division weight and will now be competing in the 60 kg division.[12]

In July 2015, Elmir launched a boxing program in Canberra to help disadvantaged young people.[13] She is also a champion of diversity for the ACT Human Rights Commission's campaign "Diversity Goes With Our Territory." [14][15]

Elmir has said: "Getting punched in the face makes me feel alive. It sounds mental, it sounds like I'm a psychopath, but I'm not – I've checked," she joked. "When I no longer like being punched in the face, that's when I know it's time to hang up the gloves." [16] Her main aim is to still qualify for the Olympics and she aims to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. She failed to qualify for Rio when beaten by Shelley Watts in a qualifying tournament in 2015[17] and later losing to Nikhat Zareen in her opening bout of the 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships.[18]

A documentary film following Elmir's path to Rio 2016 is currently in production by Lollapalooza Films and will be released in 2016.[19]

Honours
Year Tournament Venue Result Event
2010 Australian Championships[15] Canberra, Australia 1st 51 kg
2011 Australian Championships[15] Canberra, Australia 1st 51 kg
2011 Gee Bee Boxing Tournament Helsinki, Finland 1st 51 kg
2011 Adidas Champion Paris, France 1st 51 kg
2014 Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament Queensland, Australia 1st 51 kg
2015 Taipei City Cup Taipei, Taiwan 1st 60 kg
2015 International Boxing Tournament Balkan Sofia, Bulgaria 1st 60 kg

Personal life

Elmir is of Lebanese heritage. After her parents divorced while she was an infant, her mother kidnapped Elmir from her paternal grandparents home in Iaal, Lebanon, flew her to Sydney and then raised her in Canberra, Australia. Since then, Bianca has met her father and her paternal grandparents in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Her father, Ahmad, was the former mayor of his village. Of her relationship with her father she has stated "I both hate and love my father."[20] Her mother, Diana Abdel-Rahman, who hails from Miriata, is an ACT recipient of Australia Day honours.[21]

Elmir is a supporter of LGBT rights and a member of Muslims for Progressive Values.[22]

References
  1. Bianca "Bam Bam" Elmir Facebook Page
  2. Bianca Elmir - Fighting in a Man’s Sport Archived 28 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Bresnan 'absolutely devastated' over Elmir's doping ban
  4. Olympic ring no place for skirts, just boxers
  5. Boxing clever
  6. AIBA News
  7. Gaskin, Lee (23 May 2014). "Canberra boxer Bianca Elmir aiming to bounce back at world championships". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  8. Banned Elmir claims ignorance of anti-doping agency
  9. ASADA statement on Boxer Bianca Elmir
  10. Stockade Coaches
  11. Boxer Bianca Elmir claims she's been targeted by ASADA heading into Commonwealth Games trials
  12. Boxer Bianca Elmir shares her journey on the road to Rio Olympics
  13. Bianca Elmir launches boxing program designed to help Canberra's youth
  14. Bianca Elmir: Champion of Diversity
  15. Australia, Arab (6 August 2019). "Australia Boxer Bianca "Bam Bam" Elmir is of Lebanese heritage". Arab Australia. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  16. Boxer Bianca Elmir shares her journey on the road to Rio Olympics
  17. "2016 Olympic Games: Canberra boxer Bianca Elmir calls on more divisions for women". Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  18. "Watts to be Australia's only female boxer at Rio". Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  19. Bam Bam Feature Documentary Archived 27 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  20. "How do you bridge a cultural divide? Three Muslim-Australians share their stories". Sydney Morning Herald. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  21. "Australia Day honours: Jackie French, Diana Abdel-Rahman among Canberran recipients". Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  22. "Bam Bam: Fighter, fringe-dweller, firebrand: The story of Bianca Elmir". Retrieved 19 July 2016.

"Conversations: Bianca Elmir [life story]" (audio). ABC. 18 February 2015.

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