IOC Puts Boxing Back on Olympic Program for LA28

Boxing’s return from near-expulsion out of the Olympic Summer Games is almost complete after the International Olympic Committee’s executive board recommended including the sport on the program for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, ending a years-long dispute that nearly made the sport extinct on the Olympic scene.

IOC President Thomas Bach announced the recommendation on Monday ahead of this year’s annual Session meeting in Greece, which will be highlighted on Thursday by the election of his successor. The recommendation needs a full IOC Session of about 100 members to sign off on the decision, but that is usually a formality.

World Boxing was provisionally recognized by the IOC in February. For an international federation to be recognized by the IOC it must have at least 75 countries on four continents, which World Boxing achieved with its latest announcement of new members on February 18.

World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with six inaugural members including USA Boxing, which resigned its membership in the IBA. The organization now has 78 members around the world and will host its inaugural world championships later this year in Liverpool, England.

“I am very confident that the session will approve it so that all the boxers of the world then have certainty that they can participate in the Olympic Games L.A. 2028 if their national federation is recognized by World Boxing,” Bach said.

The recognition of World Boxing completes what has been a multi-year drama surrounding the sport’s future within the Olympic movement since the IBA was first suspended by the IOC in 2019 before withdrawing its recognition in 2023 following disputes over governance, its finances and the integrity of bouts and judging.

“This is a very significant and important decision for Olympic boxing,” said World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst. “World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic Games is a privilege and not a right and I assure the IOC that if boxing is restored to the program for LA28, that World Boxing is completely committed to being a trustworthy and reliable partner that will adhere to and uphold the values of the Olympic Charter.”

The IOC organized the boxing tournaments at the Tokyo in 2021 and Paris in 2024 after relations with the Russian-led International Boxing Association broke down, but said it needed a new partner in time for 2028.

The IBA is run by Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Russia President Vladimir Putin; since Kremlev’s reign began in 2017, the IBA has essentially been bankrolled by Russian interests. For last year’s Olympics, the IBA offered prize money to all medalists, including $100,000 for gold, even though they were not involved in Paris.

Since it was suspended, the IBA have continued to feud with the IOC, particularly over the rules on eligibility for women’s boxing at the Paris Games with a focus on gold medalists Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting. The IBA said this month it planned to file criminal complaints against the IOC in the United States, France and Switzerland.

Russia Still in Exile

The Russian Olympic Committee, which was suspended by the IOC in October 2023 as its invasion of Ukraine has raged for years, was cut off nearly 18 months ago from receiving a share of revenue from Olympic Games for acts that “violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine.”

Asked Monday about the status of Russia within the Olympic movement, Bach said “the ball is in the court of the Russian Olympic Committee,” then added “on the working level the contacts have always been maintained.”

A limited amount of Russian athletes did compete Paris as vetted neutrals in individual sports and a similar system is currently likely to operate at the 2024 Olympic Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

“They have to follow the rules,” Bach said Monday. “Everybody in the Olympic Movement who is following the rules of the Olympic Charter is welcome, and everybody who is not following the Olympic Charter is not welcome.”

Brisbane 2032 Program to be Decided in 2025

The initial sports program for the 2032 Summer Games in Brisbane will be determined at next year’s IOC Session. The Olympic charter calls for a program to be determined seven years prior to the Games but the Brisbane organizing committee and IOC agreed to a six-year timeline instead.

The IOC said in a release waiting one more year gives Brisbane additional time to validate critical sporting infrastructure projects; a venue plan will be unveiled later this month, the local government said in February. Brisbane organizers also will have a future opportunity to propose to the IOC one or more additional events once the initial sports program is finalised.