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Boxing at the Summer Olympics
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Boxing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since its introduction to the program at the 1904 Summer Olympics, except for the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, because Swedish law banned the sport at the time.[1] The 2008 Summer Olympics were the final games with boxing as a male only event. Since the 2012 Summer Olympics, women's boxing is part of the program.[2]
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Summary
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History
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Boxing made its first appearance at the 1904 Summer Olympics as a men's event. Due to few competitors at the time, only North American boxers competed for this edition.[3] Since the 1908 Olympics, boxing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games besides the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, because Swedish law banned the martial arts at the time.[1]
Until 1948, losing semi-finalists competed in a match for a bronze medal. However, in 1950 the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) decided to discontinue the bronze medal match as the short time interval between the semi-finals and the third-place match allowed limited time for competitors to recover. In 1970, AIBA proposed for both losing semi-finalists to receive a bronze medals, which was accepted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and implemented since the 1972 Summer Olympics. Losing semi-finalists from 1952 to 1968 were also retroactively awarded bronze medals after initially only receiving Olympic diplomas.[4][5]
In 2007, AIBA changed its full name to the "International Boxing Association" as part of a rebranding, albeit maintaining "AIBA" as its abbreviated name.[6]
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, women's boxing events were added to the programme for the first time.[2] In 2016, AIBA allowed professional boxers to compete in Olympic events, previously having been limited to amateur or state-funded boxers, for the first time.[7][8]
On 22 May 2019, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that AIBA had been stripped of the right to organise the 2020 tournament, due to "issues in the areas of finance, governance, ethics and refereeing and judging".[9] Olympic boxing was instead organised by an ad-hoc task force led by Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Gymnastics Federation.[9] In 2021, AIBA unveiled a new logo and officially adopted "IBA" as its abbreviated name.[6]
Amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, 18 national boxing federations formed a consortium known as the "Common Cause Alliance" (CCA), which called for greater transparency on the IBA's finances (including its Gazprom agreement), determine the detrimental effects of the invasion, and for the organisation to take stronger action against the Russian Boxing Federation. The CCA also pledged support for boxing to continue being an Olympic sport.[10][11]
During the IBA Congress in May 2022, one day before the presidential vote, five candidates connected to the CCA were deemed ineligible by the IBA's Interim Nomination Unit, accusing them of engaging in prohibited "collaborations" and campaigning outside of the designated period. One of the candidates–Dutch official Boris van der Vorst–filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), stating that the candidates had been approved by the IBA's Disciplinary Committee, which had also approved the CCA's activities as being supportive of the IBA's mission.[12][13] The CAS overruled the IBA decision, resulting in an Extraordinary IBA Congress in September; however, the IBA's members voted against van der Vorst's proposal to challenge Umar Kremlev's re-election as president.[14] By December 2022, the membership of the Common Cause Alliance had grown to 25 federations.[15]
In April 2023, the IOC maintained the need to recognize a new international federation for boxing by early 2025, otherwise the sport's presence at the 2028 Summer Olympics would be at risk.[16] On 13 April 2023, World Boxing was launched as a competitor to the IBA, with its interim board including officials from member organizations of the CCA, and van der Vorst was named inaugural president.[17][18][19]
On 22 June 2023, the IOC Executive Board voted to permanently withdraw its recognition of the IBA, citing a continued lack of progress on governance, finances and addressing corruption since its original suspension.[20] This was the first-ever international federation to be removed from the Olympic Movement by the IOC.[21] At the 2024 Summer Olympics, boxing was run by the IOC's "Paris Boxing Unit".[22] On 30 September 2024, the IOC asked National Olympic Committees to derecognise boxing bodies that remained tied to the IBA.[23]
On 26 February 2025, the IOC announced that it had granted provisional recognition to World Boxing as an international federation for Olympic boxing, citing its ongoing progress on membership reach and commitments to competitive integrity.[24] On 17 March 2025, the IOC Executive Board recommended adding boxing to the sports programme of the 2028 Summer Olympics.[25][26] On 20 March 2025, during the 144th IOC session, boxing was unanimously voted to be included in the 2028 Games.[27][28]
In April 2025, the IOC announced that one additional women's weight class would be added to boxing for parity with the men's events, bringing the total to 14 medal events in 2028.[29][30]
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Events
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The boxing competition is organized as a set of tournaments, one for each weight class. The number of weight classes has changed over the years (currently 7 for men and 6 for women), and the definition of each class has changed several times, as shown in the following table. Until 1936, weights were measured in pounds, and from 1948 onwards, weights were measured in kilograms.
On 23 March 2013, the International Boxing Association instituted significant changes to the format. The World Series of Boxing, AIBA's pro team league which started in 2010, already enabled team members to retain 2012 Olympic eligibility. The newer AIBA Pro Boxing Tournament, consisting of boxers who sign 5-year contracts with AIBA and compete on pro cards leading up to the tournament, also provides a pathway for new pros to retain their Olympic eligibility and retain ties with national committees.[31][32]
From the 2016 Summer Olympics, male athletes no longer have to wear protective headgear in competition, due to a ruling by the AIBA and the IOC that it contributes to greater concussion risk. Female athletes will continue to wear the headgear, due to "lack of data" on the effectiveness of it on women.[33] Also from 2016 onwards, the "10-point must" scoring system was used.[31]
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Medal table
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The following table is ranked by the number of golds, then silvers, then bronzes.[38] Until 1948, losing semi-finalists held a bronze medal playoff; since 1952, both losing semi-finalists have received bronze medals.
- As of the 2024 Summer Olympics, considering stripped and reallocated medals as of 31 December 2021.
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Nations
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See also
Notes
- Russia's overall appearances include one as the Russian Olympic Committee in 2020.
References
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