IOC, Boxing Federation on Collision Course

(ATR) The IOC and Olympic boxing federation AIBA are on a collision course.

With a single candidate nominated for election next month, the IOC makes it clear that it will not accept the election of Gafur Rakhimov. The interim president since January is now seeking a full four-year term in an election next month in Moscow. Rakhimov is not mentioned by name in a statement from the IOC Executive Board issued hours after AIBA announced his nomination.

The statement says the EB has "on-going extreme concern with the grave situation within the International Boxing Association and its current governance. These include the circumstances of the establishment of the election list and the misleading communication within the AIBA membership regarding the IOC’s position."

Rakhimov is on a US Treasury list for his association with Russian organized crime figures. Rakhimov denies criminal activity and has hired a US attorney to seek his removal from the list. Rakhimov has a long association with AIBA and boxing in Asia but has also contended with accusations of links to organized crime. The IOC is unable to interfere in the election of a federation due to the autonomy that exists as a principle of the Olympic Charter. That has not prevented the IOC from speaking out in general terms about the direction AIBA is heading.

The IOC has already cut off funding for AIBA and suspended communication other than regarding action on issues demanded. In its latest statement the IOC reaffirms that unless the federation resolves its governance problems boxing faces expulsion from the Olympics. The IOC also warns the recognition of AIBA is also on the line.

The IOC has already removed AIBA from the responsibility of organizing the tournament at the Youth Olympic Games this month in Buenos Aires. The IOC statement assures athletes that it will "do its utmost to ensure that the athletes do not have to suffer under these circumstances and that we will protect their Olympic dreams."

Around the Rings is told that members of the AIBA leadership do not believe the IOC would strip boxing from the Olympics given its long-standing as a modern Olympic sport. This IOC statement conveys the warning that it is willing to deliveron its threat.

The federation is going through an upheaval in the runup to the election. Franco Falcinelli, president of the European Confederation of Boxing, is now the target of a motion to strip him of his standing as an AIBA vice president. The move is a retaliation for Falcinelli’s support for a potential opponent to Rakhimov. Falcinelli wrote to both Rakhimov and his executive committee colleagues last month explaining why he endorsingSerik Konakbayev, president of the Asian Boxing Confederation.

Another motion for the congress in November will call for lifetime bans against former president C. K. Wu and former executive director Ho Kim. A special investigative report commissioned by AIBA has been prepared, detailing the forensics of the bankruptcy facing the federation. Kim was fired in 2015 by Wu, who clung to power until late last year.

Falcinelli originally was interim president, but he stepped aside in January for personal reasons. That opened the door for Rakhimov to step into the office, launching a maelstrom of controversy seldom seen in Olympic sport.

In what appears to be an additional move to protect Rakhimov, the federation is proposing a change in its statutes to be voted on next month. The changes would allow the federation president to take a leave of absence at his or her discretion with an interim president taking control. The change would allow the elected president to return to office within a year. ATR is told the suggestion has been made that the statute is needed because Rakhimov would consider quitting as AIBA president once the IOC takes action against its presidency.

The IOC, monitoring the situation as best it can, is reading foul play into these moves by AIBA. "Such behavior is affecting not just the reputation of AIBA and boxing but of sport in general."

IOC Pres. Thomas Bach may find a way to use even stronger language when he holds a press conference Thursday at the close of the Executive Board meeting.

Written and reported in Buenos Aires by Ed Hula

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