Naomi Graham
![]() Naomi Graham at the 2020 Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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National team | USA Boxing | ||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. | May 15, 1989||||||||||||||||||||
Education | Pine Forest High School (NC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Boxing | ||||||||||||||||||||
Weight class | Middleweight | ||||||||||||||||||||
Club | U.S. Army WCAP | ||||||||||||||||||||
Military career | |||||||||||||||||||||
Allegiance | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||
Service/ | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||
Years of service | 2013–present | ||||||||||||||||||||
Rank | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Naomi Melissa Graham is an American middleweight boxer. She is a staff sergeant and ammunition specialist in the United States Army. Graham is the first female active duty service member to fight for the U.S. at the Olympics.[1]
Life
[edit]Graham was brought up in Fayetteville, North Carolina where she was the youngest of six children. A sister, Rachel, who was six years older than her took up professional boxing, but Naomi did not, as her mother objected.[1] When she was 21, she was made homeless by her mother.[2] In 2012, she was inspired by seeing women like Nicola Adams competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She joined the army in 2013 and two years later she joined the Army's World Class Athlete Program.
In 2019, Graham won silver at the Pan American Games, which was later upgraded to gold due to her opponent's in the final disqualification for doping.[3] Naomi became the first female active duty service member to compete for the U.S. at the Olympics. She was in Tokyo for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021.[1][4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Army boxer Naomi Graham fights her way to Olympics". Fox News. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
- ^ WRAL (July 27, 2021). "Fayetteville's Naomi Graham went from being homeless to boxing for Team USA in Olympics". WRALSportsFan.com. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
- ^ "Dopaje: Colombia pierde dos oros y gana uno en Panamericanos de Lima". El Tiempo. December 26, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ "GRAHAM Naomi Melissa". Olympics. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
- 1989 births
- Living people
- American military Olympians
- American women boxers
- Boxers at the 2019 Pan American Games
- Boxers at the 2023 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games
- Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in boxing
- AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships medalists
- Boxers from North Carolina
- Sportspeople from Fayetteville, North Carolina
- United States Army non-commissioned officers
- Boxers at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Olympic boxers for the United States
- 21st-century American sportswomen
- American boxing biography stubs