The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) director general, Christophe De Kepper, has firmly assured that boxing will remain part of the Olympic Games program in both Paris and LA 2028. This statement comes despite the International Boxing Association (IBA) being ousted from the Olympic Movement at an extraordinary IOC session.
Since 2019, the IBA, which had overseen amateur boxing for many years, has been suspended due to issues surrounding judging, financial stability, and governance. They were barred from regulating boxing during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and are blocked from participating in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The IOC asserted that IBA’s leader, Umar Kremlev, who took the helm in 2020, was unable to rectify these issues.
A rival amateur boxing organization, World Boxing, was established a few months back with the ultimate aim of partnering with the IOC to manage future Olympic boxing tournaments. The IOC Task Force, which arranged the boxing events in Tokyo, will be in charge of the Paris tournaments as well.
Thomas Bach, the IOC president, stated, “We do not have a problem with boxing, we do not have a problem with boxers. On the contrary, we appreciate the boxers for living the values of their sport. If we had a problem with boxers there would not have been a competition in Tokyo, there would be no boxing competition in Paris.”
Image Credit: CNN