Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Life
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From Flint to Rio

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This is the story of an Olympic boxer, before and after she made history.

2012 marked the first year that women boxers were allowed to compete in the Summer Olympics. We produced an audio diary that followed Claressa Shields, a 17-year-old from Flint, Michigan, with a dream — to become the first American woman to win Olympic gold in boxing. And she did just that.

But how much does a gold medal really change things for a teenager in Flint? In this podcast episode, we catch up with Claressa, four years later:

Claressa Shields will be back in the Olympic ring in Rio on August 17, 2016. Her record is 74-1. She hasn’t lost in 4 years and we’re rooting for her to bring home another gold.

Special thanks to our co-producer Sue Jaye Johnson, whose new film T-Rex follows Claressa from Flint to London and back. You can find it online and on PBS’ Independent Lens on August 2.

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