Who is Jahmal Harvey? All about the 21-year-old boxer who is representing USA at the Paris Olympics

Jahmal Harvey is one of those rare cases where he took up one sport, but made a career in another. The footballer-turned-boxer will now be representing the US Olympic team in the featherweight category of men's boxing at the Paris Olympics 2024. The 21-year-old boxer qualified for the event by virtue of his gold medal at the Pan American Championships in 2023.

Harvey, who hails from Oxon Hill in Maryland is excited for the journey ahead. In an interview with 7News, he said after qualifying for the quadrennial games:

"That was my goal, it was the dream I had. I had always wanted it. It's just a happy moment. I'm just very proud of myself, but I know that I still [have] got to go add something to that: Jahmal Harvey, the Olympic gold medalist."

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Jahmal Harvey's Parents & Hometown

Jahmal Harvey, also nicknamed 'Hard Rock,' was born in Oxon Hill, Maryland on November 19, 2002. His mother, Kim Harvey-Blakely, raised him as a single parent, though he sometimes meets his estranged father, Jamarr Moody.

Jahmal Harvey is an avid basketball fan, who follows the NBA, and his favorite team is the Washington Wizards.

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Jahmal Harvey: Early Life & Education

Jahmal Harvey did his primary education at Flora L. Hendley Elementary School. He completed his education from the Potomac High School. He initially aspired to pursue a career in football. However, his own coach Darrell Davis suggested he join boxing. Jahmal was only 13 when he tried his luck at boxing.

"My football coach started a boxing gym. He had other football players come and workout too, but I stuck with it. So I was the first one to start fighting," he said. [via USA Boxing]

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Jahmal Harvey's achievements before Paris Olympics

Jahmal Harvey [in Red] in action at the Pan Am Games 2023

Jahmal Harvey was only 19 when he entered his first senior Boxing World Championships in 2021, and he immediately won a gold medal in the featherweight category. Jahmal Harvey became the first American male boxer to do so in the last 14 years.

Reacting to his Olympic selection, Harvey's coach Darrell Davis' said via USA Boxing:

"It's still sinking in to this day. It still ain't hit me; it still ain't hit me yet!"

Despite a few struggles in the run-up to the Paris Olympics 2024, Jahmal Harvey didn't give up. He gained further success at the 2023 Pan American Games, where he won the gold medal in the 57 kg. category. Since the finalists of any category at these Games qualify directly for the Paris Olympics, Harvey secured a direct ticket for the Games.

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Jahmal Harvey's potential challengers at Paris Olympics

Despite facing stiff challenges from boxers from the erstwhile Soviet Union, Cuba, Great Britain, Italy, Uzbekistan, and Turkey, the U.S. Olympic team is the table topper in terms of the most number of Olympic medals from boxing. The USA has won a total of 117 medals, of which 50 are gold.

Yet, it's been eight years since the USA last won an Olympic gold medal in any boxing event, 36 years since they last won an Olympic gold medal in any male boxing event, and a full four decades since they last won an Olympic gold medal in the featherweight category.

This is why Harvey is viewed as the best chance to end the Olympic gold medal drought for USA's male boxing. However, the journey is easier said than done.

Abdumalik Khalokov celebrating at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics [Image Sources: Getty]

Luckily, there are no medalists from the previous edition who will try to reclaim their place on the podium. Despite that, Jahmal Harvey will face some stiff resistance from Abdumalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan, who is not only the defending world champion in the featherweight category but also the Youth Olympic champion from the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics, which was held in 2018.

Apart from Kholokov, Jahmal Harvey will face a challenge from Carlo Paalam of Phillippines, who was the silver medalist in the flyweight category of the Tokyo Olympics. He has now upgraded himself to the featherweight category.