Gong for the ring: what decision will the IOC make regarding Russian boxing
[ad_1]
Events around the International Boxing Association (IBA) are rapidly unwinding. The IOC Executive Committee recommended that the IBA, headed by Umar Kremlev, be derecognised. “Olympic family” will think. The decision may be announced in the coming days: at an extraordinary session of the IOC on June 22.
Events go like blows in the ring, one after another: on June 5, the International Boxing Association sent a letter to the IOC, in which it notified that all the requirements for reinstatement had been fulfilled. On June 7, the IOC Executive Board stated that the IBA had not met the terms of the roadmap born in 2021. And therefore recommended the session of the IOC to deprive her of recognition. The extraordinary session of the IOC will take place on June 22 and will be held remotely.
And between these dates, the Court of Arbitration for Sport registered on June 15 the IBA’s appeal against the recommendation of the IOC Executive Board. Together with the appeal, the association also filed an urgent request to suspend the implementation of the recommendation until the arbitration panel makes a final decision.
The road, which the IOC believes the International Boxing Association has not yet traveled, came into being after it stripped the IBA of recognition in 2019 as the organization was in financial and managerial turmoil. The International Olympic Committee has demanded reforms. And he took over the organization of the competitions at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, as he did before Tokyo 2020.
This IBA, of course, did not and does not bring joy. The IOC and IBA are thrown around with reproaches. The president of the organization, Umar Kremlev, has repeatedly stated that he will defend boxing at the Olympics. “We will not let the outcasts of society violate the rules of sports, the culture of sports. Boxing is the founder of the Olympic Movement. He noted that the main task of the IBA is tournaments. He emphasized: “There should not be sports officials who want to deprive someone of the flag or anthem or exclude a sport.” He argued that no one would exclude the World Cup, “we will defend our independence and go our own way.”
● ● ●
Back in the summer of 2021, the IBA President stated that all the debts of the organization were repaid with the help of sponsors. A few months later, the IOC created a roadmap for the IBA, designed to restore the status. The map dealt with the need for financial transparency of activities to issues of clean refereeing. In theory, the status should have been returned in 2023, that is, now.
And in a recent June report, the IBA said it had done everything to address the concerns of the IOC about the various areas of the IBA’s activities, improved work “in the areas of finance, management and sports integrity.” And they did not even begin to renew one of the sponsorship contracts, which causes discontent among the IOC.
The IBA also emphasized that this spring they turned to the IOC with a request to indicate which paragraph of the Olympic Charter, the World Anti-Doping Code, the Olympic Movement Code for the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions or any other IOC regulation was violated by the organization. The question remained rhetorical.
The IBA leadership says that it has no problems with the IOC, believes in the preservation of boxing in the 2028 Olympic program. But he notes that there are individuals who “try to destroy boxing for personal gain and hide under suits and ties in their imaginary pocket corporations.”
The IOC, on the other hand, has repeatedly doubted that the management of the IBA has become transparent. To a heap, boxing is not yet included in the program of the Olympic Games in 2028 in Los Angeles. So there is only one positive news for boxing from the International Olympic Committee so far: it advocates the preservation of the sport in the 2024 Olympic Games program.
● ● ●
On the eve of the IOC session, there were changes in the leadership of the IBA: the Greek George Yerolimpos left the post of general secretary and executive director. The organization announced “significant organizational changes at its head office in Lausanne”. Chris Roberts from the UK, who previously held the position of Development Director, has been appointed interim Secretary General and Executive Director. According to an official release, “his leadership skills, dedication and strategic vision make him the ideal leader of the organization at this important time.” And his “extensive knowledge of the industry and dedication to the mission of the IBA will no doubt contribute to its continued success.”
The Englishman believes that “the IBA is going through a transformational time”, and it is a great responsibility and honor for him to take a position that allows him to “invest his time, experience and know-how in the boxing family”.
For Russia, boxing is the only Olympic sport in which our athletes compete at international competitions with the national flag and anthem. The association, headed by President Umar Kremlin, made this decision back in the fall. And the modern IOC clearly did not like this “know-how”.
Some countries that announced the creation of a new alternative organization World Boxing (Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Sweden and the USA) did not like it either. Tournaments under the auspices of World Boxing are planned to begin at the end of the year. The initiators of the new federation said that national organizations can simultaneously be part of both the IBA and World Boxing. But the US Boxing Federation nevertheless went for an official exit from the International Boxing Association.
So it turns out that the goals now for the IBA and for the newborn World Boxing trying to replace it are the same: to achieve recognition by the International Olympic Committee.
Newspaper headline:
Gong for the ring
[ad_2]
Source link
