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The International Olympic Committee is considering dropping boxing from the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris due to suspicions of corruption and a deteriorating relationship with the body in charge of world boxing.
The Tokyo Olympic boxing tournament was overseen by the IOC. Boxing was not on the official schedule for the 2028 Los Angeles Games when it was announced in December, but it may yet be included.
The IOC denounced the International Boxing Association and its president, Umar Kremlev, in a statement given to The Washington Post.
“The IOC will have to take all this into consideration when it takes further decisions, which may — after these latest developments — have to include the cancellation of boxing for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.”
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Why is IOC considering dropping Boxing?
In 2019, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decertified the IBA, formerly known as AIBA, due to some of the already publicized governance flaws. In anticipation of a probe into a potential judging scandal, which showed that several medal fights were manipulated by "complicit and cooperative" referees and judges, AIBA has suspended all 36 referees and judges employed during the 2016 Rio Olympics.
IOC President Thomas Bach noted at the time that the IBA must address issues 'about its governance, its financial transparency and sustainability, and the integrity of its refereeing and judging processes.'
The IOC announced in June last year that the IBA would not hold qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Games.
The IOC expressed "grave worry" in September this year regarding the future of boxing at the Olympics, after the IBA's special convention unanimously voted to keep Russian Umar Kremlev as its president rather than hold elections.
Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands was deemed to be ineligible to stand for the Presidential post against Kremlev. Van der Vorst should have qualified to challenge Kremlev, the Court of Arbitration for Sport determined in June, but the IBA group chose not to organize a fresh election.
Umar Kremlev, who was elected in 2020, has come under fire for allegedly consolidating the IBA's authority in his native Russia, spending a lot of money on marketing that looks to support him, and placing undue reliance on the IBA's only sponsor, the Russian energy giant Gazprom. He has occasionally advocated abandoning the Olympics, claiming that the organizers are 'just concerned in their power; and have 'no real interest in the sport of boxing and the fighters.'
At a symposium in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago, Kremlev defended the IBA by asserting that the IBA respected the IOC and had adopted the majority of the suggestions made to them by the IOC.
The Olympic boxing qualification for the 2024 Paris Games was scheduled to begin on May 1. But now it is very uncertain if that is going to happen.
History Of Boxing in the Olympics
With the exception of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, which was canceled due to Swedish legislation at the time outlawing the sport, boxing has competed in every Summer Olympic Games since its debut on the program at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Boxing was the sole male-only event at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Women's boxing has been a part of the Olympic schedule since the 2012 Summer Games.
