Ongoing IOC Concerns for Boxing, Weightlifting

(ATR) The IOC is refusing to lift sanctions for AIBA after highlighting "significant" concerns around governance issues, ethics and financial management.

Tom Virgets, executive director of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), presented a progress report to the IOC executive board in Lausanne Thursday. Earlier this year, the IOC threatened to axe the sport from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics over the same concerns.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams told a press briefing that the executive board raised "significant ongoing concerns in a number of areas including governance, ethics and financial management".

"The executive board maintains its position which includes continued suspension of financial contributions to AIBA and to review its position on the Tokyo 2020 program," he said.

Adams said a further review would take place at the IOC ruling body’s meeting on Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, which comes just weeks after the AIBA Congress where a new president will be elected.

Despite progress in boxing’s reforms, including the launch of a ‘New Foundation Plan’, Adams said the IOC was not budging on its stance because it was now a "matter of implementation" and AIBA had to demonstrate it was taking action.

Around the Rings understands that interim AIBA president Gafur Rakhimov has significant support in the federation to become its next president. He has not yet launched a bid. Presidential contenders have until Sept. 23 to declare their candidacies, 40 days before the congress. His name came up today in IOC discussions but not in relation to any presidential bid.

Of concern to the IOC is the Uzbek-born Russian businessman’s alleged links to organized crime in Russia. He has never faced charges and Rahimov is said to be taking a number of steps to clear his name.

Speaking to ATR after the IOC’s discussions on AIBA, Virgets said the federation noted the executive board’s concerns and would act to alleviate them.

"We feel we are moving in the right direction. We feel we have made significant strides," he said, pointing to improvements in governance evidenced in ASOIF’s monitoring exercise.

On financial reforms, he said it was taking "a lot more time to make the changes" but AIBA had "significantly reduced our liabilities and improved our financial situation".

He added: "We are confident that what we are doing are the things that are necessary to become a model international federation."

Virgets and the AIBA leadership plan to hold talks with IOC executives in the coming weeks to identify the areas that need special attention.

"Whatever these deficiencies they continue to identify, we are going to clean up and become a strong organization," he said. "We embrace this exercise. What it has done is make AIBA come together and recognize that change was necessary."

Weightlifting Taking "Positive Steps"

The IOC’s ruling body says the International Weightlifting Federation has not done enough to warrant any change to its status.

Today, the sport’s inclusion in the Paris 2024 Games remains conditional on implementation of a series of changes.

According to the IOC’s communications director Adams, the executive board recognized that concrete steps had been taken by the federation in December "to strengthen its anti-doping program and try to change cultural attitudes in high-risk countries".

The IOC also acknowledged efforts to punish repeat doping offenders in its membership. The IWF brought in a rule targeting nations, including Russia, who violate anti-doping regulations by cutting quota places at the Tokyo Olympics.

"We are encouraged by the changes that have happened," Adams said, adding that "while these measures represent a positive step forward, it is critical that the IOC executive board continues to monitor the full implementation of these changes and verify their positive impact on reducing the incidence of doping cases in weightlifting".

"Consequently, the IOC EB has decided to maintain the status of conditional inclusion of weightlifting in the sports program of the Olympic Games Paris 2024," the IOC added in a statement.

The IOC will conduct further assessment of the IWF’s anti-doping work throughout this year including at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics in October and weightlifting worlds in November.

A progress report on weightlifting’s reforms will be discussed at the IOC’s executive board meeting in November.

Written and Reported by Mark Bissonin Lausanne

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