February 29, 2012
Grace Brown, head of the women’s boxing team in Sierra Leone, died this morning, aged 43. Cecilia ‘Sporty’ phoned me this evening and said that Grace was taken to have a bath and then have breakfast and then back to bed and she just didn’t make it. Grace was hoping to see her women’s boxing team have a go at trying for the Olympics London 2012 but it didn’t happen, for umpteen reasons. Grace endured a mastectomy and suffered a stroke. She was a mother, and a friend to Sarah and the rest of the team. She was a fine sportswoman who had a dream of seeing her girls make it, one day, to the boxing rings of the Olympics. How many talented and committed athletes are being ignored and not given the chance to pursue their dreams, purely because of their circumstances and geographical locations? And then it’s too late.
Grace Brown and Lee Karen Stow in the bout of the century
Grace Brown, boxer, in action.