Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao denied exemption to participate in 2024 Summer Olympics

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Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao wanted to participate in this year’s Summer Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee has let him know he’s been denied to represent the Philippines. 

Pacquaio, 45, needed an exemption from the IOC to participate because the age limit for boxers is 40. But the IOC sent him a letter denying his request for the exemption. 

It was also reported the Philippines themselves tried to get a "universality" entry, which is given directly to the Olympics for countries that don’t have many athletes. 

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Manny Pacquiao attends the charity marathon event to provide shelters for children in the Philippines at City Football Station on May 22, 2022, in Tochigi, Japan. (Jun Sato/WireImage)

But that also wasn’t granted. 

"Universality places are not allocated to [teams] with an average of more than eight athletes in individual sports/disciplines at the last two editions of the Olympic Games," the IOC said in a statement. "This is the case for the Philippine Olympic Committee."

Pacquiao has been retired since 2021, but as of February 2023, he’s posted videos of him still trying in a boxing gym and looks to still have his patented quick hands. 

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Of course, Pacquiao isn’t as quick and agile as he was in the late 1990s, coming up as a 16-year-old phenom. 

Pacquiao went on to win his first world championship, the WBC flyweight title, in December 1998. From there, he would win seven more different weight classes: junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight,