OLYMPIC boxing has been hit by another controversy.
There is an ongoing gender row over Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting‘s eligibility to compete in the women’s weight classes.
And The Times have revealed that two judges deemed to be at “high risk” of manipulating bouts have taken charge of over 20 fights in Paris.
Emil Gurbanaliyev and Sergei Krutasov were removed from the referees and judges pool at the AIBA World Championships in Serbia in 2021.
The move came after both were randomly selected for integrity testing by Professor Richard McLaren, who exposed state-sponsored doping in Russia.
Games organisers the International Olympic Committee said that Gurbanaliyev and Krutasov had both passed background checks.
The IOC is in charge of running the event after the International Boxing Association lost its recognition.
Khelif and Yu-Ting were booted from the world championships by the IBA last year after they failed gender eligibility tests.
But IOC chiefs insist the pair are eligible to compete.
President Thomas Bach said: “We are talking about women’s boxing.
OLYMPICS FREE BETS – SIGN UP OFFERS AND DEAL FOR PARIS 2024
“We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who were raised as women, who have passports as women who have competed for many years as women.
“This is the clear definition of a woman.”
Boxing is desperately close to being booted out of Los Angeles 2028 because of its deeply concerning governance.
An International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson told i: “As it stands, boxing is currently not on the sports programme of the Olympic Games LA 28.
“The IOC has made it very clear that it cannot again organise such Olympic boxing competitions.
“In order to remedy this, Olympic boxing needs to be organised by a credible, well-governed international federation. Discussions are ongoing in this respect.”
When professor McLaren investigated 77 Rio 2016 bouts overseen by AIBA, he reported “significant” and “rampant” manipulation of results.
A look at the full statement issued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit...
Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination.
All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU). As with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.
These rules also applied during the qualification period, including the boxing tournaments of the 2023 European Games, Asian Games, Pan American Games and Pacific Games, the ad hoc 2023 African qualifying tournament in Dakar (SEN) and two world qualifying tournaments held in Busto Arsizio (ITA) and Bangkok (THA) in 2024, which involved a total of 1,471 different boxers from 172 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the Boxing Refugee Team and Individual Neutral Athletes, and featured over 2,000 qualification bouts.
The PBU used the Tokyo 2020 boxing rules as a baseline to develop its regulations for Paris 2024. This was to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparations and guarantee consistency between Olympic Games. These Tokyo 2020 rules were based on the post-Rio 2016 rules, which were in place before the suspension of the boxing International Federation by the IOC in 2019 and the subsequent withdrawal of its recognition in 2023.
We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments.
These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say that the IBA should “establish a clear procedure on gender testing”.
The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.
Such an approach is contrary to good governance.
Eligibility rules should not be changed during ongoing competition, and any rule change must follow appropriate processes and should be based on scientific evidence.
The IOC is committed to protecting the human rights of all athletes participating in the Olympic Games as per the Olympic Charter, the IOC Code of Ethics and the IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights. The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving.
The IBA’s recognition was withdrawn by the IOC in 2023 following its suspension in 2019. The withdrawal of recognition was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). See the IOC’s statement following the ruling.
The IOC has made it clear that it needs National Boxing Federations to reach a consensus around a new International Federation in order for boxing to be included on the sports programme of the Olympic Games LA28.
