Hundreds expected in rural Nova Scotia to cheer on local boxer’s Olympic medal quest

Hundreds of people in a rural corner of Nova Scotia are expected to gather in a baseball field Sunday to watch on a big screen as their neighbour, boxer Wyatt Sanford, competes for an Olympic medal.

Regardless of the outcome, there will be an epic celebration.

The 25-year-old athlete from the village of Kennetcook, N.S., is assured of winning a medal as the semifinals begin. Under Olympic rules, the two boxers who lose at this stage each take home a bronze medal.

As a result, Sanford is sure to win Canada’s first Olympic medal in boxing since David Defiagbon’s heavyweight silver in Atlanta in 1996.

“The entire community is so excited about this, and so proud of Wyatt and what he’s done,” said Eleanor Roulston, warden of the Municipality of East Hants, which includes Kennetcook — population 150. The village, about an hour’s drive north of Halifax, is not far from the eastern edge of the Bay of Fundy.

Roulston says a big crowd was on hand at Kenetcook’s Findley Park on Thursday when Sanford advanced to the semifinals in the men’s 63.5-kilogram category by defeating Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev at North Paris Arena.

She says residents cheered so loudly, she’s sure they could be heard in France.

“There were a lot of people with tears in their eyes,” Roulston said in an interview. “The mood was electric.”

After Sanford won the fight, he released a statement saying, “Kennetcook wants the gold and I want to give it to them.” But he’ll have to win on Sunday to get the opportunity to deliver on that pledge.

Sanford, who goes by the nickname “Sandman” but has also been dubbed “The Kennetcook Kid,” is setting a good example for young people in the area, Roulston added.

“It shows that someone with the talent, the drive and the work ethic can accomplish big things,” she said. “It means that a man from rural East Hants can dream the big dream and can put in the work that’s required. It opens the eyes of young people to more possibilities.”

Sanford and Montreal’s Tammara Thibeault, who competed in the women’s 75-kg division but was eliminated after her first bout, are the only Canadian boxers in Paris.

Sanford started boxing when he was 10 years old. He won gold last year at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, and he also competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.