During the Paris Olympics, many questions arose about the boxing tournament. The main protagonists of all the scandals, of course, were Iman Khelif and Lin Yuting, who were once suspended from performing for failing gender tests, and now they were allowed to participate in the Games.
In response, International Olympic Committee representative Mark Adams said that the organization will no longer be involved in boxing tournaments: “The IOC is always trying to find a balance between inclusion and fairness, this is a difficult task, and we will have to pay attention to this. Therefore, we hope that at the 2028 Olympic Games this sport will not only be spectacular, but will also take into account the preferences of all social categories of people, regardless of their origin. But we are not an international federation, so we will no longer organize an Olympic boxing tournament. Let’s hope that such an organization will appear in the future.”
Iman Khelif won the gold medal:
Khelif, who failed the gender test, is the Olympic champion. Easy gold for Algeria
The IOC had previously not been involved in boxing tournaments, leaving them under the auspices of the IBA, but the conflict between the two organisations caused a split in amateur boxing. Nothing good could come of this. In addition, the presence of boxing at the Olympic Games is now in doubt, as it is not known who will take over and be able to quickly build a structure practically from scratch.
The positive thing is that for now the IOC, represented by Thomas Bach, is conveying its desire to keep boxing on the Olympic programme: “I can confirm that we would like to keep boxing on the Olympic programme. As for the prospects, they will be there if there is a reliable international federation, with proper reputation and management and financial transparency.”
And unexpectedly, Alexander Usik, who went to the Olympics at the start of the tournament, wants to help in this: “It is difficult to accept the fact that these Olympic Games could be the last where there will be boxing competitions. Losing them would be devastating for our sport, as amateur boxing is where new talents emerge. I believe that Olympic gold is the pinnacle of achievement for any athlete. We are committed to preserving Olympic boxing for future generations by making sure it is fair, transparent and truly Olympic.”
Alexander Usik
Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images
Usik is definitely not lying about this, since even when he became the absolute champion, he invariably emphasized that his most significant achievement was Olympic gold. To support his compatriots at the 2024 Olympics, Alexander was even ready to shell out money and cheer for the winners and medalists. According to the national team coach Dmitry Sosnovsky, Usik will give $80,000 to those who win gold. Alexander Khizhnyak, for example, was able to do this.
And Usik, already at the Olympic Games, expressed a strong desire to save Olympic boxing: “Listen, I have a lot of work. I have to change the world of this sport. Boxing must change, the number of corruption schemes in boxing must decrease. World Amateur Boxing… The Ready To Fight team will do everything possible to make boxing take place in Los Angeles. [на Олимпийских играх 2028 года]”My ultimate goal is to clean up Olympic boxing. My team has a recipe for this. If the IOC wants to cooperate, we will participate to help them. This is our only task. We work for boxing.”
It sounds great: a well-known boxer, one of the top stars of professional boxing, will try to help. The question is how Usik plans to do this. He mentions the Ready To Fight team, which is essentially unknown in the world and recently appeared under the wing of Alexander himself and with the support of the WBC. On social networks, RTF positions itself as the first web application for boxers. The functionality is quite simple, it combines boxing news and the opportunity for boxers and promoters to find a way to cooperate. Other options are expected, but the organization of major tournaments is unlikely to be among them.
There were other scandals at the Paris Games:
Boxing at the 2024 Olympics is a complete scandal. Two Kazakh stars were sued in the ring?
So far, Usik’s words seem to draw attention to a new project, and the topic has been chosen correctly: Olympic boxing is now popular. Ready To Fight can only act as a partner of another organization and not as an assistant to the IOC or any international federation. It can be assumed that Usik will invest in the promotion of boxing, but most likely he will limit himself to that.
In order to save Olympic boxing, it is necessary to build a solid system that includes many amateur tournaments, where there are fair selection criteria for all participants. So far, boxing has moved away from these principles, and now it is not enough to want to restart the entire system. Usik’s desire to save this sport is very laudable, but immediately after the end of the 2024 Olympic Games, he needs to take some more decisive measures and not limit himself to beautiful slogans.
