Boxing will feature in the Olympic Games in 2028.
After the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that boxing be included in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the IOC Session has voted unanimously to confirm that.
The sport had been stripped away from the Olympic Games after being beset with a number of officiating scandals, corruption allegations and lack of financial transparency.
Boxing’s former governing body, the Russian-led IBA was expelled from the Olympic movement for its failures to reform. The IOC itself ran the boxing tournaments at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics but would not do so a third time.
That left boxing on course to crash out of the Olympics once and for all, until a new body, World Boxing, was formed that sought to replace IBA and gain Olympic recognition.
Boxing was on course to crash out of the Olympics, without a new governing body. (AP Photo/John Locher)
The IOC only granted World Boxing recognition as boxing’s new governing body last month and now, after the IOC Executive Board had decided to put the sport forward to the IOC Session for inclusion at the LA 2028 Olympic Games, that decision has been confirmed and boxing as an Olympic sport has been saved.
“I thank you for the approval of having boxing back. We can look forward to a great boxing tournament,” IOC president Thomas Bach said.
The president of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, said this week: “World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic Games is a privilege and not a right.
“World Boxing is completely committed to being a trustworthy and reliable partner that will adhere to and uphold the values of the Olympic Charter.”
Highlights of the WBC, IBF and WBA welterweight world title fight between Natasha Jonas and Lauren Price.
The Olympic Games is vastly important in the sport’s ecosystem. Tokyo gold medallist and unified world champion Lauren Price hailed “a massive boost for the sport and the hopes and dreams of male and female boxers at all levels across the world”.
She said: “It was always my dream to compete at the Olympic Games and nothing I achieve in my professional career will ever top the achievement of winning gold at Tokyo 2020.
“Competing and winning gold at the Olympics Games provided me with a platform that is enabling me to enjoy a successful career as a professional boxer. For up-and-coming boxers to be denied this opportunity would be damaging for their careers and the sport as a whole.
“World Boxing has consistently fought to ensure that boxers can continue to have the chance to compete on the highest stage in sport at the Olympic Games.”
The Olympic Games has created stars like Cindy Ngamba (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Boxer Cindy Ngamba made history as the first refugee athlete ever to win an Olympic medal.
Ngamba added: “Having the opportunity to compete for the Refugee Team at Paris 2024 has transformed my career and my life and shows how important it is that boxers continue to have the opportunity to take part in the Olympic Games.
“The thought of being able to compete at the Olympics was one of the things that kept me going in difficult times and inspired me to pursue a career in boxing. It would be hugely damaging to the careers of male and female boxers across the world if this opportunity did not exist for them.”
