In the 7th episode of the  Women Box podcast , we bring you Go For It: Life Lessons From Girl Boxers, co-hosted by actor Rosie Perez. The hour-long special chronicles a year in the lives of the groundbreaking women (including 17-year old Claressa Shields) who fought for a chance to go to London for the first-ever Olympics to include women's boxing. 

Claressa Shields of Flint, Mich., made history on Thursday when she won Olympic gold in the boxing ring. She beat Russia's Nadezda Torlopova for the top spot on the podium in the Women’s Middleweight final.

Chat Now! Join WNYC.org for a live chat watch party as boxer Claressa Shields competes for history. The teen from Michigan will fight for gold in the first-ever women’s boxing Olympics competition. Watch her go for the gold at noon with WNYC’s Marianne McCune and others who have followed Claressa from the start.

Claressa Shields, a teen boxer from Flint, Mich., won her bout in the Olympic Boxing semifinals on Wednesday, positioning herself for a run at the gold medal during the finals tomorrow.

Two of the three members of Team USA will advance to the medal round in the first-ever Olympic women’s boxing competition. This year was the first time women’s boxing has been included in the Summer Olympic Games.

Coach, sociologist and former boxer Christy Halbert has been advocating for women boxers for several decades. When she started boxing, women were barred from competing in amateur tournaments. Now she's an Assistant Coach at the first Olympics to include women boxers. 

This summer women will make sports history by boxing for the first time in the Olympic Games. But stepping into the ring means risking brain injury and, in rare cases, sudden death.

The Women’s World Boxing Championship, which will determine which women box for gold in the London Olympics this summer, kicked off Friday with a high stakes draw in Qinhuangdao, China. Here's a preview of what to expect, plus a look at Team USA's top contenders. 

Listen to Go For It: Life Lessons From Women Boxers and join us in conversation. Tell us whose voice or thoughts made you think. Do you believe women belong in the ring? Why? Why not? 

If you box, by definition, you’re a risk-taker. If you’re a girl and you box, you’re a risk-taker and a rule-breaker. If you’re a girl and you box and your aim is to be the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal for boxing – that's going for it.

First the Olympics, then medical school.

WNYC and Women Box contributor Sarah Deming is tracking all the action at the Women's World Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao, China. Today: Deming's final post brings us up-to-date on all the American boxers. 

A chance to box in the 2012 Olympic Games has brought more women than ever before to the seventh Women's World Boxing Championship in Qinhuangdao, China. The tournament's three Olympic weight classes are packed with competitors -- 77 countries have invested time and money in hopes that their female fighters can make it to the Games in London. But some of the most impressive women in Qinhuangdao are not fighting for a spot in London. That includes six members of Team USA, who lost the battle to fight in the Olympics at the US team trials in February. Now, plus or minus a few pounds, they are fighting in the World Championships to show they can't be stopped.

This month in Qinhuangdao, China, 343 female fighters from 77 countries will fight to make it to the Olympics. So, who goes to London? The math is complicated. And it’s different for fighters from different regions of the globe. Expert Christy Halbert explains.

In the 6th episode of the  Women Box podcast , 16-year old Claressa Shields tells the story of her journey from high school junior in Flint, MI, to Spokane, WA for the first US Olympic Team Trials for women boxers.

The fifth episode of the Women Box podcast tells the story of the final days of the Olympic Team Trials for women's boxing in Spokane, WA. It also includes well-wishes and a warning from professional fighter Christy Martin, the only woman ever to land on the cover of Sports Illustrated or to make a million dollars boxing (not on one fight).

In the fourth episode of the Women Box podcast, we spend some time with boxers who have trained for years to compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and have dreamed for years of going to the 2012 Games in London. Boxers train their bodies to fight and train their minds to believe they can win. But in this episode, Tiffanie Hearn of San Diego loses by a point. Alex Love underestimates her opponent. Others lose their chance to compete because of injuries. 

The third episode of the Women Box podcast includes news of Baltimore boxer Tyrieshia Douglas' first loss, knocking her into the challengers bracket at the first ever women's boxing Olympic Team Trials. 16-year old Claressa Shields fights again. In her phone message before the bout, Shields shows no sign of worry. And she wins again.

In the second episode of the Women Box podcast, 16-year old Claressa Shields of Flint, Michigan fights Franchon Crews of Baltimore, Maryland, ranked number one in the country. Shields goes into the fight with calm and confidence and beats the more experienced boxer, 31 to 19. 

The first episode of the Women Box podcast, includes words of wisdom and some historical perspective from pioneering women boxers, including Lucia Rijker. And we bring you the life story of flyweight boxer Tyrieshia Douglas, as told by Tyrieshia Douglas.