RIO DE JANEIRO -- When Claressa Shields won a gold medal in boxing at the 2012 Olympics, she was just 17 years old. She could be quiet and reserved. She received almost no endorsement offers, while bronze medalist Marlen Esparza received several.Times have changed. Shields is four years older, entertainingly outspoken, and a much bigger name, in sports and beyond. She says she has made eight international commercials. She has endorsement deals with Powerade and Mini Cooper. There is a movie about her, T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold. She gets much more media attention -- she dominated the pre-competition press conference for the entire U.S. boxing team here -- and deservedly so.Good things come to those who wait, Shields said Wednesday after her unanimous victory over Russias Yaroslava Yakushina in their middleweight quarterfinal bout. And I dont think I was ready for that stuff when I was 17. I think its come at the right time and Im able to handle everything.In branding herself, Shields says she is altering the definition of what a woman can be.When people have the definition of a woman, they always say, Is this a pretty woman, is she skinny or elegant, or does she wear her hair straight? And Im kind of changing that definition of what a strong woman is, she said. A strong woman can have muscles, a strong woman can get into a ring and fight, a strong woman can transition from having braids and straight hair. When I get outside the ring, I just carry myself the way Im supposed. I keep my hair done. Im a lady and very flexible, but when Im inside the ring, Im a beast.Is she ever. Shields has a 75-1 record, and she is not only confident she will win gold again but also absolutely certain she will. Her ambition coming here is to be the USAs first-ever double gold medalist boxer in 27 Olympics, U.S. boxing coach Billy Walsh said.After Wednesdays bout, a reporter mentioned that Shields had slept several days with her gold medal in 2012 and then asked whether she would do so again if she won. Shields glared back and responded: If?I definitely think Im the best fighter in the world here, Shields said in a line comparable to Muhammad Alis I am the greatest!Shields could be right about that. She is rarely challenged by her opponents and spars against male boxers. She used to tell her coaches that she needed to spar against boys, but they would say no. Then, when her coaches noticed how easy it was for her to spar against female boxers, she insisted, Put me in the ring with the guys! She finally was allowed to spar with men, including fellow Olympian Shakur Stevenson.All that has only made her better and stronger. And she will have to fight better and stronger in the semifinal than she did on Wednesday. Even though she won, Shields was a little off the first couple rounds before dominating the later rounds. She described her fight as a C-minus performance, adding, Im trying to get A-plus in all my fights. Im definitely going to get my next one.Shields has reason to be confident given all that she has overcome. She endured an incredibly difficult childhood, growing up in Flint, Michigan, where her father was in and out of prison for selling drugs, her mother was often absent, and Shields was sexually molested. Despite all that, she is now back on the world stage.Claressa came out of nowhere, and now the world loves her because of the way she fights, U.S. assistant coach Kay Koroma said. She fights differently from every other girl, and even some of the boys. And maybe she should be in there with the boys sometimes. 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Breaking three of his own world records on his way to winning in Paris, Chan silenced the critics and left the audiences standing in appreciation and awe. SYDNEY -- Former federal sports minister Mark Arbib has been selected over three female candidates to join the executive of the Australian Olympic Committee, filling a vacancy created by the retirement last month of vice-president Peter Montgomery.The selection of Arbib, the president of Athletics Australia, was announced Thursday. Other candidates included three-time Olympic gold medalist and ex-Australian field hockey captain Rechelle Hawkes, two-time Olympic equestrian gold medalist Gillian Rolton, and Cheryl Bart, a company director, lawyer and a board member of Australias football federation.John Coates, president of the AOC and a vice-president of the International Olympic Committee, said Arbib brought valuable experience.ddddddddddddI welcome Mark as president of the Australian national federation of athletics -- the sport at the core of the Olympic Games, including with most events and athletes, Coates said in a statement. He knows us as a former Minister for Sport and will be a great help in Canberra.Importantly he understands the needs of athletes at both the elite and grassroots levels of sport. ' ' '