The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed an appeal by the exiled International Boxing Association (IBA) against its withdrawal of recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC had voted to remove IBA’s recognition as an Olympic governing body last June, amid a myriad of issues with the Swiss-based IBA’s finances, governance, and ethics. This means, in effect, that the IBA is no longer in charge of boxing events at upcoming Olympic Games, including Paris 2024, and that all events it does hold will not be recognized by the IOC.
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This decision was swiftly followed by an appeal to CAS by the boxing body, that same month.
Now, however, CAS has confirmed it has “dismissed the appeal filed by the International Boxing Association against the decision of the IOC session withdrawing the recognition of the IBA as the international federation for the sport of boxing.”
The CAS panel noted that the IBA “had not complied with the conditions set down by the IOC for recognition.”
By the time the IOC stripped the IBA of recognition, CAS has said, the boxing body had not: increased its financial transparency and sustainability; changed its processes relating to referees and judges to ensure integrity; or ensured full implementation of all measures proposed by a ‘governance reform group’ established by the IOC.
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By GlobalDataThat trio of factors had all been pre-conditions laid out by the IOC, which the IBA would need to adhere to in order to keep its membership status.
Therefore, the CAS panel determined that the IOC session had been justified in its move to withdraw official recognition from the IBA. It also confirmed that the IOC’s “right to control the circumstances in and the conditions on which it confers recognition, outweighed the IBA’s personality rights.”
Both the IOC and the IBA have now received the full explanation for CAS’ decision, with the full reasoning to be published by CAS unless they request confidentiality.
Last month, the rival World Boxing organization – established last April – said that it intends to seek Olympic recognition from the IOC, and to become the governing body of boxing events in time to put the sport back on the program for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics (it has been left off that program, for now).
The IOC needs to have a partner international federation for the sport in place by early 2025, in order for boxing to make an LA28 appearance.
While boxing will take its place at Paris 2024, those events will be run by the IOC itself.
In response to the CAS ruling, both parties (the IOC and the IBA) have issued statements.
The Olympic governing body has said: “Because of the universality and high social inclusivity of boxing, the IOC wants it to continue to feature on the program of the Olympic Games.
“Unfortunately, this is far from certain … To keep boxing on the Olympic program, the IOC needs a recognized and reliable International Federation as a partner, as with all the other Olympic sports.
“The establishment of such a federation, which respects the IOC conditions for recognition, is now in the hands of the national boxing federations and their national Olympic committees."
The IBA, meanwhile, has stated that it “strongly disagrees with the oversimplified language of the CAS media release.
“In fact, IBA has made considerable progress in all areas mentioned in the CAS media release and beyond.
"The IBA will refrain from further comments until the CAS award has been thoroughly analyzed by its legal experts which is taking place right now."
The IBA also said this could potentially result in an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal being made.
