ATHLETE PROFILE: CAITLIN PARKER

IMAGE: Caitlin Parker on her balcony at GC2018 Athlete's villiage

ATHLETE NAME: Caitlin Parker

MOST NOTABLE CHAMPIONSHIP WIN OR RECORD: Bronze at the Youth Olympic Games, silver at the youth world championships, bronze at junior world championships.

STATE AFFILIATION: Western Australia

AGE: 21

WEIGHT CLASS: 75kg

AMATEUR RECORD (ROUGHLY IF YOU DON’T KNOW IT): roughly 65 fights 

48 wins/17 losses (35 international fights) 

LOCAL GYM: Fox’s Boxing Den 

TRAINER: Peter (Fox) Wilkinson

HOW DID YOU QUALIFY FOR THE TEAM - WHO DID YOU BEAT ? Renee Gartner (TKO round 2) and Haylee Smith (unanimous decision)

YEARS EXPERIENCE AS A BOXER: 10 years, fighting for 8 years 

WHO GOT YOU INTO BOXING AND WHY?: My parents always pushed me to be the best that I can be and to never quit. I started Combat sports when I was young because my parents wanted me to defend myself and my dad wouldn’t let me walk to school by myself until I got a black belt in tae Kwon do. I tried boxing out at a local gym and really took to it. I trained for 2 years before I had my first fight at 13 years old. 

ODD SPORTING FACT ABOUT YOU (OTHER SPORTING INTERESTS OR AWARDS?):  I played rugby 7s for Western Australia.

I got black belt in tae kwon do at age 11.

I was awarded a scholarship with the Sports Australia Hall of Fame in 2015 and through that was mentored by Adam Gilchrist. 

WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU: family. 

THE MOST MEMORABLE WIN YOU EVER HAD: winning silver at the World titles and that qualified me for the Youth Olympic Games which was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my sporting journey thus far. 

WHAT IS IT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE IN THE SPORT: Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and medal at the Olympic Games.