The International Boxing Association will not be in charge of the boxing competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics or qualifiers for those games, the IOC said on Friday. Show The IOC had stripped the IBA in 2019 of its involvement in last year’s Tokyo Olympics due to governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues. The sport was also not included in the initial programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. “(The decision) follows the continuing and very concerning issues of the IBA, such as its governance and its refereeing and judging system,” the Olympic body said in a statement after an executive board meeting.
“The various IOC concerns around the governance of the IBA, including the refereeing and judging process and its financial dependency on the state-owned company Gazprom, are still ongoing.” The Russian energy company is the biggest sponsor of the IBA, formerly known as AIBA. IBA President Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman, was re-elected unopposed following the disqualification of his only opponent, Boris van der Vorst, two days before the vote in Istanbul on May 14. Van der Vorst, however, has since been vindicated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport which ruled he was wrongly prevented from taking part in last month’s presidential vote, adding to the governance turmoil within the body. IBA also had to overhaul refereeing following the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics and a bout manipulation system which existed there and resulted in the removal of Executive Director Karim Bouzidi along with several referees and officials. “The IOC executive board felt enough was enough,” the IOC’s sports director Kit McConnell told a virtual news conference. “The boxing qualifiers and competition at the 2024 Olympics Games will not be run be run under the authority of the IBA.” He said the IOC was considering different models to prepare for the qualifiers and the competition. “There are a lot of lessons and best practices developed for the sport at the Tokyo Olympics (last year). Whatever the model we have in place will take those aboard as well as a strong athletes’ voice.” Boxing’s corruption-tainted world governing body will once again be excluded from organising their own events at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed on Friday. The International Boxing Association (IBA) had already been barred from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo with the organisation’s presence in the 2028 Los Angeles Games also uncertain. “In the interest of the athletes and the boxing community, the IBA will not be running qualifications and Olympic events,” IOC sports director Kit McConnell told a press conference. Boxing will take place at Paris 2024 but McConnell said the Olympic organisation remained “very concerned by the governance, the refereeing and judging process and the finances” of the amateur boxing body. The recent re-election of IBA president, the Russian Umar Kremlev, has been called into question by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the IOC are also concerned about “its financial dependency” on the giant Russian gas company Gazprom. Many Olympic boxing tournaments have been tainted by suspicions of corruption of judges and referees, from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. The IOC will decide “in due time” on the terms of organisation of boxing in Paris, “by working closely with the organising committee and the representatives of the athletes”, McConnell added. Although boxing, which made its Olympic bow in St Louis in 1904, is guaranteed to be on the Paris 2024 programme, its presence at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics is still in the balance. “We’ve been looking for clarity from the IBA for many years,” said McConnell. “The (IOC) board felt enough was enough.”  The IOC has decided that IOC won't take care of the boxing qualifying events and competitions.© AFP The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided that the boxing qualifying events and competitions at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 will not be run under the authority of the International Boxing Association (IBA). The decision is centred on the athletes and the need to provide certainty for the Olympic competitions and qualifications leading to Paris 2024. It follows the continuing and "very concerning" issues of the IBA, such as its governance and its refereeing and judging system. The IOC administration will finalise on an exceptional basis alternative models for the organisation of these boxing competitions, working closely with the Paris 2024 Organising Committee and athletes' representatives. The outcomes of these discussions and suggested recommendations will then be presented to the IOC EB in due course. Whether or not boxing will be included in the sports programme of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 will be discussed at a later stage. The various IOC concerns around the governance of the IBA, including the refereeing and judging process and its financial dependency on the state-owned company Gazprom, are still ongoing. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on June 14 that the decision of the IBA Interim Nominations Unit, which had deemed the presidential candidate Boris van der Vorst and three other electoral candidates ineligible for election the day prior to the scheduled IBA elections, had been overturned. The CAS arbitrator accepted the request that they be reinstated as eligible candidates. Furthermore, the CAS stated that Umar Kremlev had committed the same rule violation yet had been admitted to the election as the sole candidate. Sponsored by Vuukle With regard to the planned IBA qualification pathway to Paris 2024, the IOC EB noted that no host-city agreements had been signed for the qualification competitions and that there was an insufficient number of certified referees and judges to deliver the planned events. Following an investigation and report by an IOC Inquiry Committee in 2019, recognition of the International Boxing Association (at that time still called AIBA) was suspended by the IOC. This suspension is still in force today. Following the suspension, the IOC created a special Task Force with the remit to deliver the qualification events for the boxing tournament at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Led by IOC Member and President of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Morinari Watanabe, the Boxing Task Force delivered a clear, fair and transparent pathway for boxers to qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and ensured a fair and just competition, both on the road to Tokyo and at the Games. Topics mentioned in this article Will there be boxing in 2028 Olympics?‼️Boxing is not currently included in the Olympic programme for LA 2028 – the first time it has been excluded since its introduction in 1904.
What martial arts will be in the 2024 Olympics?Taekwondo has been confirmed to be appearing in the 2024 Olympics, which are set to take place in Paris, France. A total of 128 athletes, 64 men, and 64 women, will participate in the competition.
Why is boxing not in the Olympics?Though they have previously not been permitted to compete in the games, professional boxers have been allowed to participate in the Olympics since 2016. However, most choose not to participate because of differing rules, risk of injury, and reduced financial incentive, among other reasons.
Is boxing in the winter Olympics?Boxing has been held at every Summer Olympic Games since it first appeared in 1904, except for in 1912 in Stockholm as Swedish law banned the sport at the time.
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