IOC expels International Boxing Association from Olympic movement

The final bell has sounded for the governing body of amateur boxing after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to expel the International Boxing Association (Iba) from the Olympic movement. The decision, which was backed by 69 IOC members – with one vote against and 10 abstentions – is the first time the IOC has kicked out a governing body in its 129-year history.

However, the IOC president, Thomas Bach, confirmed boxing would remain in the 2024 and 2028 Olympics, even though it now lacks an international federation to run the sport. “We do not have a problem with boxing, we do not have a problem with boxers,” he told an Extraordinary IOC session. “On the contrary, we appreciate the boxers for living the values of their sport.

“If we had a problem with boxers there would not have been a competition in Tokyo. There would be no boxing competition in Paris.”

The expulsion had been on the cards since 2019 when the IOC withdrew its recognition for Iba – then called Aiba – due to concerns over judging and refereeing, financial stability and governance. The move followed a number of allegations of rigged decisions at the Rio 2016 Olympics and financial mismanagement under its former president CK Wu, stories that were first reported by the Guardian.

Iba then further antagonised the IOC by choosing the Uzbek Gafur Rakhimov to run the sport. Rakhimov was described by the US treasury department as one of his country’s “leading criminals” and “an important person involved in the heroin trade”, allegations he denied.

In 2020, Rakhimov was replaced by the Russian Umar Kremlev, but the IOC said that under his watch Iba had repeatedly failed to address its concerns. Notably, in a 24-page report detailing all of the steps it