“The IOC needs to rethink its approach to all athletes”

President of the International Boxing Association Umar Kremlev made a statement

President of the International Boxing Association (IBA) Umar Kremlev issued a statement on Wednesday, October 12, urging the IOC to listen to the needs of athletes. The text of the appeal is published on the IBA website.

“The IBA has taken the first step towards equal opportunity and fairness. The IBA will continue to do everything for the sake of its athletes and coaches, we must create conditions, not worsen them.

Once again I want to say that sport is out of politics. We should not have anything to do with the games of politicians around the world.

The IOC needs to rethink its approach to all athletes. The decision to exclude some of them on a national basis is contrary to the principles of the Olympic movement, it is detrimental to all sports.

I call on the IOC to open a window for athletes to continue competing and call for a change in the policy that excludes athletes.

I want to appeal to the entire international sports world: let all athletes compete. These are not political tools, these are those who suffer from political decisions. They don’t deserve to be treated so badly by the entire sports environment.

Politicians do their job to promote their interests, and we must do our job to keep our athletes and sport safe. The sports world is blocked by politicians and, unfortunately, is losing its autonomy. There should be no political games behind the athletes’ backs. This is dangerous for the future of the sport. The IOC must rectify the situation immediately. All athletes need to be given the green light as they are not to blame for anything.”

As MK wrote earlier, the IBA board of directors decided to allow Russian and Belarusian boxers to participate in their tournaments, and under their own flags, and to return judges and technical officials from Russia and Belarus to the competition. At the same time, the IBA Extraordinary Congress voted to suspend the membership of the Ukrainian Boxing Federation in its ranks due to the fact that its leadership was changed under pressure from the government of this country. Such decisions of the International Boxing Association caused concern on the part of the IOC and some international sports organizations, demanding the complete exclusion of all Russian athletes and officials from all international tournaments and competitions. In addition, since 2019, the IBA has been deprived of the right to conduct selection for the Olympic Games, and the very presence of boxing in the Olympics program is now in question.