LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) – The International Olympic Committee said Wednesday it must find a suitable new international boxing body by early next year or risk boxing being excluded from the Olympics at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. He said there is.
The IOC has stripped the International Boxing Association of its rights to organize the Olympic boxing tournaments in Tokyo in 2021 and Paris this year.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday upheld the IOC's decision to revoke the IBA's formal recognition, effectively banishing it from the Olympic movement altogether.
The IOC has long cited concerns about the IBA's governance and the integrity of its refereeing and judging methods for boxing matches. It also accused the IBA's Russian president, Umar Kremlev, of using “violent and threatening language” about IOC officials last year.
“Due to the universality of boxing and its high degree of social inclusion, the IOC wishes to continue featuring boxing in the program of the Olympic Games,” the IOC said on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, the IOC is not in a position to organize another Olympic boxing tournament for governance reasons, so the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is far from certain. As with all Olympic sports, the IOC needs recognized and trusted international federations as partners.”
The IOC has called on national boxing organizations and Olympic committees to support the establishment of a new international governing body for boxing. For boxing to continue at the Los Angeles Olympics, “the IOC must establish an international federation as a partner for boxing by early 2025,” he said.
The IOC has not named a candidate, but the most likely candidate is boxing officials from the United States and Britain, which split from the IBA last year and elected Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands as its own president. It would be World Boxing, a breakaway organization that supports it.
World Boxing has begun hosting its own tournaments, and announced in November that it attracted members from 27 countries and territories.
The IBA announced on Wednesday that it was considering whether to appeal to the Swiss Supreme Court, arguing that the CAS ruling did not evaluate the IBA's own reforms. “The IBA feels that ignoring these and other improvements suggests a biased view.”
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