French boxing star Estelle Mossely has just been named the face of Hublot, just a few weeks ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. A look back at a flourishing and inspiring career.
In a few weeks’ time, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be at the heart of all the discussions. It’s an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the athletes who will be taking part in this international competition, like Estelle Mossely, the multi-award-winning French boxer. While the sportswoman is currently back in the ring at the Westfield Forum des Halles in Paris to prepare for the Olympics, she has also just been named muse of the Hublot watchmaking house, shortly after her arrival at Dior.
The beginnings of fame
She is one of the women who make France proud. Born in Créteil in 1992 to a father of Congolese origin and a mother of Ukrainian origin, Estelle Mossely has been involved in sport since she was a child. After ballet, swimming and figure skating, she took up boxing at the age of 12.
At 18, Estelle Mossely joined the French national team. While continuing her studies at the École supérieure d’ingénieurs de la Défense, from which she graduated, the boxer followed a rigorous daily training programme. As her career began to take off in the lightweight category, Estelle Mossely chose to work in parallel as an engineer at Allianz. Even then, this double life showed her mental strength and her great capacity for organisation and concentration.
In 2014, at the age of 20, she won a silver medal at the European Amateur Boxing Championships in the lightweight category, followed by a bronze medal at the World Amateur Boxing Championships. The following year, she won a silver medal at the European Games. And this already impressive list of achievements is still in its infancy…
2016, the year of all successes
It was a year of triumphs. On 19 August 2016, on her birthday, Estelle Mossely was the big winner of the Rio Olympic Games in the lightweight boxing category. She became the first French woman to win the title since the introduction of women’s competitions in 2012. At the same time, she was crowned world amateur boxing champion. These two consecutive triumphs put Estelle Mossely at the forefront of the world’s best boxing athletes.
In 2019, Estelle Mossely won the International Boxing Organization (IBO) title, which she holds until 2023. Injured by a fractured nose, the champion was stopped in June. But since Wednesday, she has been back in the ring at the Westfield Forum des Halles in Paris, in bouts organised by her company, Double Y Boxing. This competition will give her a chance to get back into the swing of things before she takes part in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
In an interview with L’Equipe in mid-April 2024, Estelle Mossely said: “With 100 days to go to the Olympics, we’re in good shape, training hard and tired. I’m really looking forward to it. […] It’s going to be one thing after another until the Games, but it’s going to allow me to take a bit of a break from my family life and my other commitments. I knew there would be 2 or 3 months of sacrifices to make. I’ll accept them, because the stakes are worth it. I’m so keen to win this second title that I have to give it 300%”.
Boxer, mother and committed woman: a sports figure who seduced Hublot
Estelle Mossely is a success story. The sportswoman manages her family life and her career as a top-level athlete with the utmost respectability, despite the difficulties. Mother of two children, Ali born in 2017, and Magomed born in 2020, from her union with boxer Tony Yoka, also an Olympic medallist, Estelle Mossely has never hidden her role as a mother, which she highlights on her social networks. For the record, she trained until she was seven months pregnant with Magomed, before resuming training six weeks later to defend her IBO title.
Notre bébé est né ❤️
Le 7 mai 2020 ~> à nouveau une date gravée ! 3kilos800 pas de record battu lol mais je voulais un petit bébé 😄 voilà je l’ai eu haha . Mon petit Magomed !! Félicitations à nous 😄🥰 @TonyYoka #love pic.twitter.com/0K25betX4a— Estelle Mossely (@EstelleMossely) May 9, 2020
The boxer even founded the association LPERF in 2017 to support and accompany female athletes in their careers. The organisation is a testament to her feminist commitments and her ambition to move the world of sport towards a more virtuous future.
All these values and qualities have attracted Dior and Hublot, who have both appointed her ambassador. With figures like Estelle Mossely, female empowerment has a bright future ahead of it.
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Featured photo : © Twitter Estelle Mossely
