Boxing could face expulsion in the next Olympic Games: IOC
PYEONGCHANG: Boxing could be knocked out of the 2020 Tokyo Games if the International Olympic Committee is not satisfied of problems with the sport’s finances and governance are sorted out, IOC President Thomas Bach warned on Sunday.
Speaking in Pyeongchang ahead of next week’s Winter Olympics, Bach said the IOC was “extremely worried” about how the sport was run and said the body was prepared to make bold decisions.
“The IOC reserves the right to review the inclusion of boxing in the programs of the Youth Olympics 2018 and Tokyo 2020,” he told reporters.
Bach added that the IOC would be freezing all contacts with the sport’s governing AIBA “excluding the ones on a working level necessary to implement the respective IOC decisions”.
AIBA said the IOC decision was “extremely disappointing” after the boxing body had submitted a progress report as requested.
Following a two-day Executive Board meeting in Pyeongchang, Bach said the IOC had not been satisfied with the AIBA report and that it would be opening an investigation into the body.
AIBA has been riven with in-fighting for months, with former president and IOC member CK Wu first provisionally suspended and then stepping down last November after a bitter dispute with his executive committee.
AIBA named Uzbek Gafur Rahimov as its new Interim President last Saturday, following the unexpected resignation of Interim President Franco Falcinelli. The Olympic ruling body had also announced in December it was freezing payments to AIBA until boxing got house in order.
Previously, the IOC withheld payment of more than $1 million of television rights from the Athens 2004 Olympics after a refereeing scandal at those Games.
AIBA said in a statement, “This decision was made despite AIBA’S fulfilment of the IOC’S request to submit a Progress Report outlining all steps AIBA was asked to take and continues to take to improve its governance,” it added.
BACH DISAPPOINTED AFTER CAS LIFTS LIFE BANS ON RUSSIANS
PYEONGCHANG: A decision by sport’s top court to lift life bans for doping of 28 Russian athletes was “extremely disappointing and surprising”, IOC chief Thomas Bach said. He said the ruling came as a complete surprise to the IOC. “We never expected this,” Bach said.