The International Olympic Committee is threatening to remove boxing from the programme for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the IOC said on Thursday in a statement carried by several websites specialising in Olympic affairs.
The IOC had already removed the sport from the 2028 Olympic programme in Los Angeles, but it is now taking into consideration further decisions, which may – in view of the latest developments – include the cancellation of boxing at the 2024 games, it said.
This is in reference to the extension of Gazprom’s sponsorship contract as the main partner of the international boxing association, IBA, chaired by Russian Umar Kremlev.
Already, in September, the second extraordinary congress of the IBA had prevented Dutchman Boris van der Vorst from running against Kremlev in the association's presidential elections, whereas CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, had decided otherwise.
The last IBA Congress showed once again that the IBA does not really care about its sport and its boxers, but only about its power, the IOC said in a statement.
The extension of the partnership contract with Gazprom as the main sponsor reinforces the concerns that the IOC has been expressing again and again since 2019, the Committee noted, adding that the announcement confirmed that the IBA will continue to depend on a company largely controlled by the Russian government.
The qualifying rounds for the Paris Olympics are due to start on 1 May 2023.
Boxing made its debut on the Olympic programme in 1904 in St Louis, USA, and has not left the programme since 1920 in Antwerp.
