The statement of the organization surprised. It’s no secret that in International Olympic Committee (IOC) for a long time suspended the IBA from holding selections for Olympic Games – they are completely mired in corruption and judicial scandals. The boxing tournament at the previous Olympics (Tokyo, Japan) was held for the first time without an IBA and finally did without judicial arbitrariness.
The IBA said it “undertook the responsibility and role of the international governing body to ensure a clear selection process for its athletes for the 2024 Olympics.”
The IOC responded to this statement: “Back in 2019, we conducted an investigation, which resulted in the suspension of the IBA. We have suspended their powers. And that suspension is still in effect today. Last June, we officially announced that the IBA tournaments will not be qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics. This decision remains in effect.”
The IOC confirmed that the first qualifying tournament for the Olympics-2024 will be European games (June-July 2023, Krakow, Poland), and then two qualifiers for the world tournament.
The IOC is dissatisfied not only with corruption in the IBA, but also with the financial dependence of the organization on Russian state-owned companies (primarily on Gazprom). Because of this, the difficult decision was made to exclude boxing from the Olympics-2028 program.
Earlier, the IBA was shocked by the decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at the 2023 World Cup. In response, a number of countries refused to participate in the tournament. It is possible that the list of refuseniks will soon increase.
The IBA believes that the IOC has staged a witch hunt, “due to political disputes, the athletes themselves will suffer first of all.” The organization believes that “the exclusion of the winners of the upcoming 2023 World Cup from qualifying for the 2024 Olympics is contrary to the principles of sport.”
At the beginning of the year, the WBC hit hard on the IBA and the Kremlin, threatened with a lawsuit.