Boxers are withdrawn from the fight – Newspaper Kommersant No. 240 (7441) of 12/24/2022

The confrontation between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA) has reached a new level. The IOC, which previously only allowed the IBA to host Olympic boxing competitions, has threatened to completely exclude the discipline that has been on the Olympic schedule since 1904 from the Games program starting in 2024. The reason was the signing of the IBA, headed by the Russian Umar Kremlev, a new sponsorship contract with Gazprom.

The International Olympic Committee threatened to remove boxing from the Games. Moreover, the IOC is ready to take such a radical step already in 2024, when the Paris Olympics will take place. Note that boxing was first included in the program of the Olympics in 1904. Since then, with the exception of a break for the 1912 Games in Stockholm (then Swedish law prohibited boxing fights), boxing has not fallen out of the Olympics schedule. We also add that, despite the long-standing conflict between the IOC and the IBA, there have never been real threats of depriving boxing of its Olympic status before. Yes, in Tokyo 2020, the IBA was suspended from hosting the boxing tournament. It was organized by the IOC itself. Yes, the status of boxing as an Olympic sport is still not confirmed in the provisional program for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

But as for 2024, the IOC had previously intended to re-host boxing competitions on its own. There was no talk of excluding boxing

The IOC statement lists a number of reasonswhich can move the governing body of the Olympics to take radical steps. The key one is the presence of Gazprom as a key sponsor of the IBA.

The IBA has been in crisis for several years now. Actually, on its wave in 2019, the IOC withdrew the recognition of the IBA. The federation experienced difficulties with both management and finances: IBA debts at some point exceeded $15 million. However, in 2020, after Umar Kremlev became the head of the structure, the situation began to improve. In particular, the issue of debts was resolved. This happened after Gazprom became the sponsor of the IBA, the contract with which provided the IBA with revenues of about $50 million over two years. In early December, at the IBA congress, it was decided that the agreement with Gazprom should be extended.

“The recent IBA congress showed that the association is not interested in protecting the interests of boxing and boxers, but only thinks about its own power,” the IOC said in a statement. “Discussions about keeping boxing out of the Games cannot be interpreted in two ways.”

The IOC noted that the IBA’s actions “have no desire to understand the real problems of boxing”, and added that “the extension of the contract with Gazprom only reinforces the concerns that the IOC has been expressing since 2019.”

The IOC explained that the extension of the agreement with the Russian gas giant will lead to the fact that “IBA will continue to depend on a company controlled by the Russian government.” They also recalled that the IBA actually ignored the recent decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled that the Dutchman Boris van der First, who in May tried to compete with Umar Kremlev in the IBA presidential elections, was illegally removed from participation in them. After all, despite the CAS verdict, the IBA congress voted overwhelmingly against holding new elections, thus giving a colossal credit of confidence to Mr. Kremlev. “The IOC will be obliged to take into account all circumstances that may, after recent events, lead to the exclusion of boxing from the 2024 Olympics program,” the IOC said in a statement.

However, there appears to be little chance that the IOC and IBA will settle their differences. After all, two weeks ago, at the IBA congress, Umar Kremlev said, addressing the IOC: “Stop dictating terms to us, don’t teach us about life.” The head of the IBA also explained that the federation he leads has already done everything that the IOC asked, and will no longer put up with outside interference in its affairs.

Alexander Petrov