The International Olympic Committee has finally decided to exclude the controversial world boxing association IBA. At an extraordinary meeting of the umbrella organization on Thursday (June 22, 2023) in Lausanne, 69 IOC members voted in favour, with only one dissenting vote.
“We have no problem with the boxers,” said IOC President Thomas Bach before the vote. “We have a serious problem with the Iba because of their leadership.”
In the evening, the Iba responded with another attack on the IOC. The IOC made a “huge mistake” and thus revealed its true character. In the statement on the homepage, the association’s leadership made an extremely questionable comparison of the IOC decision with the anniversary of Hitler’s Germany attacking the Soviet Union in 1941. And further: “We cannot hide the fact that today’s decision is catastrophic for global boxing and is in blatant contradiction to the IOC’s claims that it is acting in the best interests of boxing and athletes.”
Suspended since 2019
The Iba has been suspended since 2019. From the point of view of her critics, she stands for corruption, management problems and distortion of competition. IOC director-general Christophe De Kepper settled accounts with the association at the IOC special session and said the Iba had not been able to create the conditions for an end to its suspension.
Sharp attacks by IBA boss Umar Kremlev
This means that boxing is without an Olympic association for the time being. A competitive association called World Boxing is already ready. The sport will retain its Olympic status for the time being. Boxers deserve to be governed by a world association with integrity and transparency, said Bach.
The Iba leadership recently criticized the IOC’s actions as “disgusting” and “purely political”. The Russian head of the association, Umar Kremlev, had even warned other world associations that they were “witnessing the proven political and strategic tool of the orchestrated coup for the purpose of regime change”. The IOC had described Kremlev’s sharp attacks as “unacceptable”.
Shady leaders
The reasons for the IOC sanctions were the manipulation of combat verdicts, opaque financial management and shady leaders such as the Uzbek Gafur Rachimov, who was said to be involved in international drug trafficking. Association President Kremlev is supported by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, on which the clammy Iba is heavily dependent financially. The Russian claimed the Iba addressed all of the IOC’s concerns.
The German Boxing Association is not a member of the new World Boxing association. However, the IOC decision was closely followed there. “That is a clear and unambiguous statement. We will discuss this in the association and accordingly consider how to proceed,” said DBV sports director Michael Müller of the German Press Agency on Thursday.
Guarantee for Los Angeles 2028
The qualification for Paris 2024 and the Olympic fights are in the hands of a task force set up by the IOC – as was the case at the Tokyo Olympics. IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper said he could guarantee boxing would be at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The exclusion is based on a recommendation by the IOC executive, which had not found any significant improvements in a report on the boxing association’s situation in early June. The IBA recently fought against the end, but their appeal to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport was unsuccessful. The IBA had recently repeatedly assured that it had addressed all of the IOC’s concerns.
