Caitlin Parker (boxing) made it two medals from two Commonwealth Games when she came away with a bronze medal in Birmingham after losing her semi-final bout to reigning world champion and eventual gold medallist Tammara Thibeault of Canada. Four years earlier, Caitlin was Australia’s team captain for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games – our most successful boxing team in Games’ history – where she won silver after losing to Lauren Price of Wales in the final. The Perth-born boxer, who relocated to Melbourne to advance her career, took up boxing and taekwondo aged 11 because her father wouldn’t let her walk to school on her own unless she learnt self-defence. Caitlin started competing at 13, won her first national title at 14 and was on the Australian team at 15. Her first international success came in 2014 with silver and bronze medals at the Youth World Championships and Youth Olympics. She narrowly missed qualifying for her first Olympics in Rio 2016, then was unlucky to be beaten in a unanimous decision in her opening bout at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games. Caitlin has been mentored by Australian cricket great Adam Gilchrist who was part of the Australian men’s team that won silver at the sport’s first appearance in Kuala Lumpur in 1998. She was appointed a member of the International Boxing Association’s Athletes’ Committee in 2022.