Sporting Witness
Dec 14, 2024
In 2014, fighter Cecilia Braekhus helped end Norway’s 33 year ban on professional boxing, thanks to a parliamentary points decision.
The so-called ‘knockout’ law had been in place since 1981 because the Norwegian parliament thought professional fights - lasting up to 12 rounds and with no helmets - were too dangerous.
It meant that Cecilia and other Norwegian boxers had never been able to fight professionally in their home country. They also had to train abroad.
Despite the ban, in September 2014, Cecilia became the first undisputed world champion in women’s boxing after unifying the welterweight titles.
She then turned her attention to securing another victory, and three months later, the Norwegian parliament voted 54 to 48 to lift the ban on boxing.
Cecilia Braekhus spoke to Jane Wilkinson about being able to fight professionally in Norway for the first time.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable victories and agonising defeats from all over the world. You’ll hear from people who have achieved sporting immortality, or those who were there as incredible sporting moments unfolded.
Recent episodes explore the forgotten football Women’s World Cup, the plasterer who fought a boxing legend, international football’s biggest ever beating and the man who swam the Amazon river. We look at the lives of some of the most famous F1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who’ve had ground-breaking impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the number 1 squash player in the world for nine years, and the first figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the FIFA computer game was created.
(Photo: Cecilia Braekhus at the International Boxing Event, Finland. 2009 Credit: Jussi Nukari/AFP via Getty Images)
