US boxer Mikaela Mayer 設立する life direction in the (犯罪の)一味
LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Mikaela Mayer knew she was better than the high school burnout that she was in danger of becoming.
She had …に出席するd four schools in three years, 繰り返して getting in trouble for fighting and bad grades. She was a 17-year-old 時折の model with the self-認識/意識性 to realize she had no (疑いを)晴らす direction or 未来 outside the San Fernando Valley.
"All I cared about was my friends, and going out and partying, and 存在 a young, 冷静な/正味の 十代の少年少女," Mayer said. "I was looking for something, but I had no idea what."

In this June 13, 2016 photo, U.S. Olympic boxer Mikaela Mayer 提起する/ポーズをとるs at a gym in West Hills, Calif., where she is 準備するing for her trip to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. (AP Photo/Greg Beachem)
One summer day, she realized something was calling her to the humble storefront kickboxing gym in an unassuming (土地などの)細長い一片 商店街 負かす/撃墜する the street from her 離婚d dad's apartment. Instead of 運動ing past it again, Mayer and a friend went inside.
The first thing she asked the trainer was: "Do you think I'm too old to start competing?"
"I was hungry for success in something at that time, because I wasn't doing 井戸/弁護士席 at anything," Mayer said. "I was like, 'I want to be good at something.' It's always been inside me. I've always had that 解雇する/砲火/射撃. I didn't have anywhere to direct it."
Almost nine years to the day after that wild child learned how to throw her first punch, Mayer will fight at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, joining gold メダル受領者 Claressa 保護物,者s as the only U.S. women boxers in Brazil.
Mayer still doesn't know 正確に/まさに why she first decided to punch people after a 青年 spent 参加するing in everything from サッカー to motocross to snowboarding. Nobody in her self-述べるd "family of hippies" had been anywhere 近づく a ボクシング gym.
After her first workout, she knew three different ways to throw a proper punch. And she liked it.
"I 注ぐd all my energy into it," Mayer said. "It wasn't ever just a part-time thing for me. From the day I walked into this gym, within two months, all I thought was, 'I want to be the best 女性(の) 闘士,戦闘機 in the world.'"
Mayer took lessons in muay thai and kickboxing, but she 献身的な herself to ボクシング after a 支援する 傷害 一時的に stopped her from throwing kicks. She became a Golden Gloves 支持する/優勝者 just a few years later ― and when the Olympics 追加するd a women's tournament in 2010, Mayer and her father, 示す, decided to chase メダルs.
They heard about a ボクシング scholarship program at Northern Michigan University under 深い尊敬の念を抱くd amateur coach Al Mitchell, who has taught three U.S. Olympic teams. Before she had time to think, the LA native had been 受託するd to the program on Michigan's Upper 半島.
"So I やめる my 職業, said, 'Later,' to my boyfriend at the time, and hopped on a 計画(する)," Mayer said. "I had never been to Michigan, let alone the U.P., which is a 'nother thing on its own. I remember 飛行機で行くing in there and seeing all the pine trees and 10 feet of snow and just thinking, 'Where the hell am I?'"
Mayer warmed to her 冷淡な new home, and Mitchell developed his first 女性(の) pupil into a world-class 闘士,戦闘機. Her 社債 with Mitchell and his fiancee became so tight that she had Mitchell's 初期のs tattooed on her 権利 手渡す.
"The thing that makes Mikaela different is her かかわり合い," Mitchell said. "When she walked in here, I broke her 負かす/撃墜する and rebuilt her. She never believed it was too hard, and she never gave up. She has toughness that got her this far, and now it's getting her all the way to the Olympics. It's an incredible thing to do in that 量 of time."
A year after moving to Northern Michigan, Mayer fell just short of a 位置/汚点/見つけ出す on the first U.S. women's team, losing a 決定/判定勝ち(する) to Queen Underwood at the 2012 裁判,公判s. She only became more 決定するd to catch the next wave in the 進化 of her sport.
Mayer made the Rio team last 落ちる only after fending off a ferocious challenge over three qualifying fights from teenage prodigy Jajaira Gonzalez, a fellow LA-area native with a wealth of junior 肩書を与えるs.
"The 競争 is so much tougher now than it was when I started," Mayer said. "支援する in 2009, if you went to a tournament and even got to have two fights, it was 価値(がある) the money."
With an artfully bent nose from ボクシング, she still takes 時折の modeling work, 特に for a handbag company that sponsors her. Although she still lives in Michigan, Mayer returned to her 初めの Valley gym last month, joyfully 迎える/歓迎するing her first coach ― and Coconut, the adorable dog she gave up when she moved.
She wants an Olympic メダル out of her 旅行, but she also wants her success to bring more attention to women's ボクシング. Although she has thought about turning プロの/賛成の, good money is 不十分な for 女性(の) 闘士,戦闘機s outside the octagon ― but that only makes Mayer more 決定するd to 後継する in Rio.
"I've always believed I'd be here, but I also knew that the chances of 存在 here were going to be わずかな/ほっそりした," Mayer said. "This was my dream before I knew it was possible."

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2012, とじ込み/提出する photo, Queen Underwood, 権利, and Mikaela Mayer 戦う/戦い during a lightweight ボクシング match at the U.S. Olympic women's ボクシング team 裁判,公判s in Spokane, Wash. Mayer was a problem child searching for her own 解答 when she 突然の took up ボクシング nine years ago. The self-述べるd Valley girl 乗る,着手するd on a path of self-改良 that took her through 氷点の Northern Michigan, a 簡潔な/要約する modeling career and a failed 試みる/企てる at London before she 調書をとる/予約するd a ticket to Rio de Janeiro and the second Olympic women's ボクシング tournament. (AP Photo/Jed Conklin, とじ込み/提出する)

In this June 13, 2016 photo, U.S. Olympic boxer Mikaela Mayer trains at a gym as Coconut, the dog, walks 近づく her in West Hills, Calif. Mayer was a problem child searching for her own 解答 when she 突然の took up ボクシング nine years ago. The self-述べるd Valley girl 乗る,着手するd on a path of self-改良 that took her through 氷点の Northern Michigan, a 簡潔な/要約する modeling career and a failed 試みる/企てる at London before she 調書をとる/予約するd a ticket to Rio de Janeiro and the second Olympic women's ボクシング tournament. (AP Photo/Greg Beachem)

FILE - In this March 3, 2012, とじ込み/提出する photo, Mikaela Mayer, left, ois 宣言するd the 勝利者 in the 141-続けざまに猛撃する 肩書を与える 一区切り/(ボクシングなどの)試合 against Cashmere Jackson, of Cleveland, at the U.S. ボクシング 選手権s at Fort Carson, Colo. Mayer was a problem child searching for her own 解答 when she 突然の took up ボクシング nine years ago. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, とじ込み/提出する)

In this June 13, 2016 photo, U.S. Olympic boxer Mikaela Mayer 提起する/ポーズをとるs at a gym in West Hills, Calif., where she is 準備するing for her trip to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. (AP Photo/Greg Beachem)