Olympics: Gavin Withdraws From Great Britain Squad After Losing Weight Battle

The first blow to the British boxing team at these Olympics arrived not in the ring but on the scales when the world champion Frankie Gavin failed to make the weight for the 60kg division. He has left the team training camp in Macau to return to Birmingham.

'Fun Time Frankie', as the lightweight is known to his friends, was a favorite to win gold after beating the best boxers in his division to win the world title in Chicago last year, but he has been struggling at the weight ever since. Amateur boxers know they have to peak at the right time to be strong at their weight and the Great Britain coach, Terry Edwards, admitted last month it would be touch-and-go for the southpaw.

"He is absolutely gutted, as you'd imagine," a team spokesperson said. "He has been having these problems for some time and, when he could not join the rest of the boxers leaving for Beijing on Tuesday, he knew he had one last chance to get down to the weight in Macau. Unfortunately, he could not do it.

"He is so upset he does not want to make any statements to the press and has asked us to let everyone know that. It is such a crushing blow for Frankie after all these years of aiming at the Olympics to discover now that he won't be able to compete."

This is the division in which Amir Khan won silver in Athens. Gavin, a brilliant all-round strategist, has never doubted his ability to win gold in Beijing, a belief confirmed when he gave the 2004 featherweight champion Alexey Tischenko his first defeat in three years. He also beat the highly rated Italian Domenico Valentino in the world finals and reckoned he had the measure of the Cuban, Yordenis Ugas.

His battle with the scales got tougher, though, and a month ago he approached Ricky Hatton's nutritionist, the former bodybuilder Kerry Davis, for advice.

Edwards said: "It is the nature of our sport that we try to get our boxers to the top of their weight and it has been well documented that Frankie has struggled with this over recent months. While the support staff down in Macau and I have done everything we could, regrettably it is clear that Frankie will not make his weight before tomorrow morning's weigh-in.

"Frankie has been working his whole boxing career towards the Olympic Games and he is obviously completely devastated. I would ask that his privacy is respected during this difficult period and he is given the time to come to terms with the situation.

"My advice to him has been to take stock over the next couple of weeks and I will talk to him about his future as soon as I get home. Frankie is leaving a very talented group of boxers here in Beijing, and our focus has never faltered from making sure they have the best preparation and support to allow them to perform to the best of their ability in the Olympic boxing ring."

Gavin's departure leaves seven boxers in the British team, their best representation since the Melbourne Olympics of 1956, and they still have excellent chances of medals in at least three weight categories.