Antonia Kay prepares to chase 2024 Olympic dream

A Melbourne Olympic boxing hopeful is continuing to chase her dream despite the countless challenges of being an individual athlete and balancing a promising music career.

“It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”

One of boxing’s most famous quotes from Sylvester Stallone in his role as Rocky Balboa.

And it’s one boxer Antonia Kay is living by as she chases an Olympic dream.

In the past three years alone, the 29-year-old from Melbourne’s western suburbs has continued to take knocks back she’s continued to pick herself up.

Now Kay, who is also a talented musician, has cast her eye to winning a place on the Australian Olympic team for the 2024 Games in Paris.

And her journey to get there will ramp up when she travels to Europe for the European Boxing Confederation Bocskai and Stranja tournaments in February.

Kay is a multiple state and national champion, but hasn’t had the opportunity to wear the green and gold on the international stage in the past few years due to the Covid pandemic.

Antonia Kay with her coach Luke Bones. Photo: Instagram.

But her coach, Luke Bones from Bones Boxing Gym in Niddrie, says a never die attitude has put her in a strong position to succeed.

“Antonia is relatively new to boxing when you see the level she has reached — she has about four to five years experience if you take out the two years of lockdowns,” he said.

“She’s done really well to get to her current level. In 2019, she was the last Australian standing at the World Championships. So we really believe she can go on and win a medal at these events in Europe.

“Where she’s fighting are among the top-10 events on the European calendar.

“They’re a critical part of the Olympic cycle for so many boxers. Despite all the pressures of life, she still believes there is a lot of improvement in her fighting and you can see that in the way she trains.

“It would be hard to find many people who work harder.

“One of the greatest challenges for individual athletes is trying to find the funding to make their dreams come alive and that’s why we’ve established a fundraiser to help Antonia out.”

Originally from Greece, Kay fell into a love of boxing after giving it a go for fitness purposes.

And even when she did become competitive, she continued to prove people wrong.

“In Europe she’ll be back in her natural weight class at 54kg,” Bones said.

“In previous fights, she’s gone up and down the divisions because her weight class wasn’t included. Being back at this level gives her a fantastic chance to prove herself.”

Following her time in Europe, Kay’s attention will turn to other events which will help decide the Australian team for next year’s Olympics.

If you’d like to help her achieve her dreams, you can donate here.

You can also follow Kay’s journey on Instagram @peaceofkay.