The fight between the International Boxing Association (IBA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) looks like it will go a few more rounds.
Earlier this summer the IOC stripped the IBA of the authority to run qualifying events for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as the IOC as long expressed concern over the IBA’s governance and integrity. During the IOC’s recently completed Executive Board meeting last weekend, the IOC approved a new system of qualification for boxers. They will have three attempts to earn an Olympic berth in Paris.
The events, the Pan American Games, the European Games, the Pacific Games, the Asian Games and a yet unconfirmed African event, will not be under the authority of the IBA.
Designed by the IOC in close collaboration with boxing experts, the new qualification system is based on direct qualification through selected competitions, including the use of National Olympic Committee (NOC) regional multisport events as Olympic boxing qualification tournaments.
The IBA released a statement criticizing the IOC’s decision.
“The IBA also notes that, whilst it was criticized for not providing by the end of June all the deliverables related to the qualification system, notably with less than two years before Paris 2024, there is still no clarity on how the system will be executed, its exact timeline, and the location of Africa multisport event and world qualification tournaments,” the IBA statement read.
But the IBA added: “Neither is IBA aware of consultations made by the IOC with key IBA stakeholders, including IBA Technical Committees and IBA Athletes Committee, whilst it is claimed that the new qualification process puts boxers first.”
The IBA also accused the IOC of a “double standard approach” as they noted all the work the boxing federation has done to clean up their mistakes of the past.
“The perceived double standard approach relating to the joint assessment work in the technical officials space remains extremely disappointing. The IOC boxing independent expert group and IBA subject matter experts have been working extremely closely over the past six months to share best practice. The results of this positive collaborative work have indeed been seen and recognized at the highest level. Comments have been made by the IOC President Thomas Bach relating specifically to the good, clean and positive work set against the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul.
“Our work in the integrity space has already had a significant positive impact on results coming out at world level competition. Trust is extremely important whilst working together in the team environment; positive feedback has been prevalent during this time, so it remains really difficult and disappointing to understand the sudden change in tact and direction,” the statement continued.
The IBA did note there is still room for improvement, but stated “the newly formed IBA has moved away from the issues of the past. Integrity remains pivotal to our work and those adopted core values that we owe to our athletes and coaches. We remain at their disposal 24/7 in ensuring the IBA vision is communicated globally; laying down the foundations of good sporting and ethical practice remains at the heart of our global work.”
The IOC has yet to respond to the statement released by the IBA, but it likely won’t look kindly on their counterattack. Boxing has been removed by the IOC from the LA28 Olympic Program and although the IOC issued the IBA a road map back to inclusion, there is little indication from Lausanne the believe the IBA is doing all the right things to regain inclusion.
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