Ireland's high performance director Tricia Heberle says boxing must remain an Olympic sport beyond the Paris 2024 Games to protect the dreams of young hopefuls across Ireland.
With just three weeks to go until the Opening Ceremony, excitement is building for the start of the Olympics, with a contingent of 10 athletes currently in a training camp in Germany.
However, boxing's future at the Olympics after Paris remains unclear, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) insisting that boxing will not be an event at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Newly formed World Boxing is hoping for relief after the IOC stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of its status last year.
Thirty-three national federations have joined the World Boxing Federation since it was founded 15 months ago and last week the influential Asian Boxing Confederation called an extraordinary general meeting for later next month to decide the future, but time is running out.
Last year, members of the Irish Athletics Boxing Association (IABA) voted not to join the World Boxing Federation and remain under the umbrella of the IBA, but unless this decision is overturned, Ireland's Olympic future is in jeopardy.
And Tricia Heberle admits she would be “really worried for Irish boxing” if boxing was removed from the Olympic Games.
“A lot of kids dream of going to the Olympics,” she said.
“We go out into club environments and there are Olympic rings everywhere and if you talk to any of these athletes you’ll find that a lot of them started out as young kids at the club with dreams of going to the Olympics.
“A lot of girls took up boxing because of Katie Taylor's success and many of the boxers now representing Ireland in youth and junior competitions have heroes in the likes of Kelly Harrington and Aoife O'Rourke.”
“Similarly with the men, when you talk to any male athlete you always hear about guys who've had success at the Olympics, like Kenny Egan and Paddy Barnes. Boxing will always survive but to have boxing in the Olympics is something very special, especially in Ireland as it is the most successful sport.”
“When you talk to kids, they don't talk about going to the European Games or European Championships. Yes, they represent their country, but there's a strong focus on the Olympics.
“We need to be involved in the Olympics and our executive board, central council and members have to make that decision.”
Even if Irish boxers are in Los Angeles, Hebert won't be there.
The former Australian hockey player revealed that his current role will be his last, with plans already underway to return to Australia early next year as Ireland search for a new high performance director.
There has been speculation that current U.S. head coach Billy Walsh could be among the candidates to return to the role he vacated in 2015, but that is not expected to happen.
“There's always a lot that happens after the Olympics, but we're already planning for it,” Heberl said.
“I'll obviously be staying on to run the debriefing, which will involve interviewing every player, every member of staff and putting together a really good report of the good, the bad and the ugly.”
“We also need to make sure we have a plan through to 2025. Going forward, we need to recruit quality directors. If the board wants me to be a part of that, I'll be a part of that.”
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