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China's Li Jinzi is declared the winner over Canada's Mary Spencer after their quarterfinal boxing match at the London Olympic Games August 6, 2012Reuters

Mary Spencer did something before her Olympic boxing match that she had never done before a fight. She confided in long-time coach Charlie Stewart that she was nervous.

Before an arena full of some 10,000 people, exponentially greater than any crowd that had ever watched her fight before, the Canadian was eliminated 17-14 by China's Jinzi Li. Dreams of an Olympic medal built during 10 years of training vanished as four three-minute rounds flew by in an unforgiving flurry.

The weight of Canada's expectations had been heaped upon Spencer. A crowd of several hundred friends and family gathered in her hometown of Windsor, Ont., watching on a big-screen TV. Since winning gold in dominant fashion at the Pan Am Games last fall and carrying Canada's flag out of Guadalajara, Mexico, many thought she could be the first Canadian boxer since Lennox Lewis in 1988 to win Olympic gold. Own the Podium invested heavily in her.

The 27-year-old three-time world champion didn't cry after the fight or express much  emotion at all. She was the same well-spoken, congenial young woman, chatting amicably with media, reuniting with friends and her mom.

She reflected that she never quite rebounded from the physical and emotional toll of beating Arianne Fortin back in January to be Canada's Olympic representative, the Quebec fighter who was once her close friend.

"I had the biggest win of my life in January, and to come off that and get ready for something like the Olympics - I didn't think it would be easy, but it was a lot tougher than I thought," Spencer said . "I had to be my best and then six months later, I had to be better than my best. I thought I would find a way to manage it."

Spencer demolished Li for the gold medal at the 2010 world championships. That time, the Canadian let the hands fly. But Monday, at the Olympics, the Canadian struggled tactically and often seemed to be breathing out of her mouth as if fatigued.

"Mary has hand speed, and in my opinion, she didn't use it," Stewart said. "She caught a break when she was behind two points and the girl got a warning, so that meant they were tied. So then you fight like crazy like you want it. She usually fights better than that.

Spencer had visited the venue a day earlier. When for the first time ever before a fight, she told Stewart she was nervous, he told her everyone here would be a little nervous.  She said Canada's expectations and the non-stop media attention had not gotten to her.

"I came here wanting to win gold," Spencer said. "So having a bunch of other people telling me I can definitely go there and medal, that's not pressure if I already expected that of myself."

Spencer said the first thing she wanted to do was see her mother to tell her she is going to be okay.

"Even though she doesn't say a lot, she's devastated deep inside," said her mother Ruth Spencer, who thought the pressure had gotten to her daughter. "She's like me, we're quiet and we hold our emotions in. She's not a loser, she just lost that fight."

Stewart and Boxing Canada's high performance director Daniel Trepanier said Spencer had been very well-prepared and her fitness was good. She said she won't quit.

"It will be an awesome day when a little girl doesn't believe me when I tell her that there was once a day when guys could fight in the Olympics, and girls couldn't ," Spencer said. "I love this and I still want a gold medal, so I'm going to stick to it."

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