David de Pina: Boxer with ‘Mickey Mouse’ hair on winning Cape Verde’s first Olympic medal

De Pina took up boxing aged 15 after being bullied by older children in his neighbourhood in Santa Cruz.

He made his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, where he lost his opening bout to defending champion Shakhob Zoirov, and after his return from Japan de Pina was offered an Olympic solidarity scholarship.

In a bid to improve in the ring, De Pina took up the scholarship at the cost of a personal sacrifice.

He moved to Lisbon, Portugal, to train at the Privilegio Boxing Club in the suburb of Odivelas, but had to leave his daughter Hellen, then aged four, back in Cape Verde.

“In Portugal, life was not easy,” he explained.

“Those rough moments that I’ve been through make me stronger. This new status won’t scare me, because I know where I came from.”

The money he received from the scholarship was not enough to support his family, and De Pina had to balance his training regime with working as a carpenter on building sites in order to make ends meet.

“The sad part is that if I went to work in buildings, I wouldn’t have time to train,” he said.

“I have to stop training to have money for living or paying my rent.

“If I work in the buildings I couldn’t have energy to train because boxing requires a lot of sacrifice.”

His decision was ultimately worth it as De Pina secured bronze at the 2022 African Championships in Mozambique and then qualified for Paris 2024 at the second time of asking via a tournament in Thailand.