LAUSANNE (AFP) – The International Olympic Committee recommended Wednesday that amateur boxing’s governing body be stripped of its right to organize the event at Tokyo 2020, but said the sport should still be featured at the Games.
The guidance from the IOC’s executive board – almost certain to be rubber-stamped by the full IOC membership next month – followed a months-long investigation into alleged serious mismanagement at the crisis-riddled International Boxing Association (AIBA).
The probe “speaks for itself,” IOC president Thomas Bach told reporters in Lausanne.
He said the evidence details “extremely serious issues” within AIBA ranging from “deficiencies” in governance, to lack of due diligence and conflicts of interest.
In ousting AIBA from the Tokyo Games but creating a new path for boxers to compete, the IOC was seeking to ensure that athletes “can live their dream and participate in the Olympic Games” while making sure AIBA faced “the necessary consequences,” Bach said in a statement.
The IOC probe was led by audit firm Deloitte, and centered on subjects ranging from finances, governance and ethics to anti-doping, refereeing and judging.
The probe determined that AIBA has made “a lack of satisfactory progress,” in resolving its issues, the IOC said.
Formed in 1946, AIBA has overseen decades of signature Olympic moments, notably the 1960 gold medal win in Rome by Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay.
But its reputation has been tarnished in recent years as it careened from crisis to crisis.
