Boxing’s Olympic exclusion stirs tensions
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday October 12, 2024 10:41
This follows the IOC's 2019 decision to strip the IBA of rights to organise Olympic boxing. In 2019, the IOC stripped the IBA of its right to organise Olympic boxing, turning festering tension between the two organisations into an open confrontation. The IBA had been dogged for years by governance problems, suspicions of corruption and complaints about incompetence. In June last year, the IOC expelled the IBA from the Olympic movement, saying it had failed to address any of its concerns. The Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) president, Gilbert Khunwane, told MmegiSport that their affiliation with IOC is over. “The IOC is saying it is over. There is an IBA Annual General Meeting (AGM) before the end of this year. Hopefully, we will hear what they will say about the way forward. As it stands, there is nothing we can do as BoBA, we just have to wait,” he said.
Khunwane said there is another option of joining World Boxing, which is not an IOC affiliate. However, World Boxing does not have the required numbers to be part of the IOC. He said the African Boxing Confederation (AFBC) is yet to give the local governing body direction. Things took a turn for the worst when IBA took legal action to protect its National Federations like BoBA against external interference. According to an IBA statement by the head of communications and public relations, Elena Sobol, the federations are facing abusive behaviour from the IOC. “The IBA will go all the way and take the necessary actions to secure the best future for its membership. We encourage our National Federations to join us in the legal battlefield for the future of boxing,” Sobol said in the statement. He said on August 26, the IBA submitted a formal complaint to the Swiss Competition Commission accusing the IOC of unfairly dominating the global market for organising and marketing the Olympic Games. Sobol said the IOC is using its influence to prevent boxers from participating in the Olympics if their National Federation is affiliated with IBA, which violates fair competition standards under Swiss law.
“The IOC's recent actions further emphasise this issue. It has pressured the National Olympic Committees (NOC) to exclude IBA-affiliated National Federations from their membership and restrict any formal relations between the NOCs and these Federations. IBA argues that this behaviour is unlawful and has raised it with the Swiss Competition Commission, adding to previous legal concerns,” Sobol said.