A tearful and clearly shell-shocked Tina Rahimi could not comprehend her loss to Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in the boxing 57kg class at the Paris Olympics, admitting: “I’m speechless. I walked in there really confident. I really, really saw myself standing on the podium … I’m in complete shock.”

There is a major difference between qualifying for the Paris Olympics by beating up boxers in the featherweight class from Tonga, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand, and fighting three rounds with crafty, competition-hardened Europeans.

In the final round, Szeremeta was ostentatiously dismissive of Rahimi. The Pole stood with her arms by her side, exposing her midriff; she danced and skipped and rested her hands on her hips. She jumped and performed little bicycle steps. In fact, she should have been penalised points for showboating. But it would have taken a massive mark-down to reduce a score where all five judges awarded her a clear victory, 30-27.

Rahimi said of the showboating, “We all get annoyed about that, when someone’s running away from the fight. I like to sit there and trade blows. So obviously, it got to my head, which I shouldn’t let it. But it was her tactic and good on her, it got her the win.”

Throughout the three rounds, Rahimi failed to land a telling punch.

Szeremeta has the full boxer’s arsenal, being part pugilist, part peacock. She can be back-alley fighter and Bolshoi dancer.

Tina Rahimi struggled to land a blow on Julia Szeremeta.Credit: Getty Images

Rahimi, wearing a hijab and full-length covering over her arms and legs in the hot Paris night, was busy but ineffective.

She is Australia’s first female Muslim boxer to compete at an Olympics and won a bronze medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

A make-up artist by training, she occasionally applies her skill to the faces of opponents she punishes, but in Paris there were only tears.

From Bankstown in Sydney’s south-west, she has been very outspoken about athletes being able to wear any clothing, irrespective of ethnicity or religion.

Asked about the gender issue regarding the IOC allowing two female athletes,........

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