Mary Spencer

Sport: Boxing

Nation: Canada

DOB: December 12, 1984

Career Highlights: Even though she's a three-time world champion in a relatively new amateur sport, Spencer's dream of fighting in the first Olympic competition in women's boxing appeared to have been dashed earlier this year. In the opening bout of her world title defense, Spencer suffered a stunning 18-11 loss to Sweden's Anna Laurell in May. The following month, however, Spencer was awarded a wild-card spot in the 75-kg division to keep her Olympic medal dreams alive. Beginning with her first fight nine years ago, when she won with a knockout in the first round, Spencer has been punching her way to the top of the rankings. She captured her first world championship in 2005 in the 66-kg division, getting named the tournament’s top boxer. Spencer took home bronze at the 2006 worlds but returned to the top spot in 2008. For the 2010 worlds, Spencer moved up to the 75-kg weight division in preparation for the London Games because there is no 66-kg class for women in this Olympics. She cruised to a 14-2 victory over 2008 world champion Jinzi Li of China in the final to claim her third world championship. Spencer is an eight-time Canadian national champion and also has five Pan American Games titles to her credit, most recently in 2011. Known for using her height and powerful punches to enforce her will on opponents, Spencer may be more recognizable to non-boxing fans due to her sponsorship deal with Cover Girl.

Olympic History: None