Boxing’s once uncertain Olympic future appears to have been resolved with the sport set to feature in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
The International Olympic Committee itself organised the sport’s competitions at the last two Games – in Tokyo in 2021 and Paris in 2024 – after governance issues relating to the International Boxing Association, whose president is Russian Umar Kremlev.
But after the IOC recognised rival body World Boxing as the sport’s primary federation last month, outgoing Olympic president Thomas Bach said the sport was set to get the go-ahead for LA28.
It comes after the IOC’s running of the Paris 2024 tournament saw criticism voiced over boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting – who the IBA had banned over alleged gender test failures prior to the Games. Khelif is taking legal action over reports about her physiology.
“After the provisional recognition of World Boxing in February we were in the position to take this decision,” Bach said.
“I’m very confident the [IOC] Session will approve it, so that all boxers of the world then have certainty that they can participate in the Olympic Games in LA2028 if their national federation is recognised by World Boxing.”
A new era for boxing
National federations will need to be members of World Boxing, rather than the now unrecognised IBA, to be able to send athletes to the next Games.
World Boxing president and former fighter Boris van der Vorst added: “I have no doubt it will be very positively received by everyone connected with boxing, at every level throughout the world, who understands the critical importance to the future of the sport of boxing continuing to remain a part of the Olympic Movement.
“World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic Games is a privilege and not a right.”
The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games will see the introduction of five new sports: baseball-softball, lacrosse, squash, flag football and Twenty20 cricket.
And the LA Olympics will also see changes to other sports already on the agenda, such as rowing – which will see ocean rowing for the first time.