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Olympic gold medallist Lauren Price MBE has marked her professional boxing debut with a resounding victory over Iceland’s Valgerdur Gudstensdottir.

Price, from Ystrad Mynach, defeated her rival with a unanimous points decision at Wembley Arena on Saturday, June 11.

Having won gold at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, welterweight Price signed a deal with professional boxing company BOXXER and Sky Sports in April.

Speaking to Sky Sports after her win, Price, 27, paid tribute to her grandmother Linda and late grandfather Derek, who raised her and supported her sporting ambitions.

Price’s rise to the top

Aged 12, Price became world kickboxing champion, but switched from kickboxing to boxing aged 16.

It was at 16 when Price, who played football for Cardiff City, made her international debut for Wales, going on to win 52 caps.

In 2014, Price quit football to fully focus on boxing – a decision which was met with immediate reward at the 2014 Commonwealth Games when she became the first Welsh woman ever to win a boxing medal at the games.

Her 2014 bronze medal was surpassed four years later when she won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, followed by gold at the European Championships and then World Championships in 2019.

Her crowning glory came in Tokyo last summer – where the former Heolddu Comprehensive School pupil became just the second British female boxer to win Olympic gold, after Nicola Adams’ triumphs at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

After returning to Ystrad Mynach following her Olympic success, Price was given a rapturous welcome by residents, who lined the streets waving Welsh flags. A phone box on Penallta Road was also painted gold to celebrate her achievements.

In September, Price and fellow Olympic medallist Lauren Williams, from Blackwood, were paraded through Ystrad Mynach and Williams’ hometown of Blackwood, while crowns adorned the streets.

Both Price and Williams were also enrolled onto a new Wall of Fame at Ystrad Mynach’s Centre for Sporting Excellence, and were later granted the Freedom of Caerphilly County Borough.

Last year also saw Price win the National Lottery’s Olympian of the Year Award and was named BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

She rounded off a remarkable 2021 by being made an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list, and was shortlisted for the Welsh Government’s St David Awards in February 2022.

In April, having achieved everything possible at amateur level, Price announced she was making the leap to the pro stage alongside fellow competitor, and partner, Karriss Artingstall.