Boxing secures place at LA 2028 Olympics
Doubts surrounding the future of boxing at the Olympics have been squashed with the sport confirmed on the Los Angeles 2028 program.
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has welcomed the decision to include boxing at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
A unanimous vote from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Greece overnight ended years of doubt over the sport’s future.
AOC President Ian Chesterman said the decision is a victory for the sport and for Australian athletes.
“Australia has a proud history in Olympic boxing, and this decision provides assurance and inspiration for the next generation of Australian athletes striving to represent Australia on the Olympic stage,” he said.
“Importantly this decision allows Boxing Australia and the coaches, support staff and athletes to plan with certainty as they build towards their Olympic goals at Los Angeles 2028.”
More than 130 Australians have boxed at an Olympics including silver medalist Reginald Baker, first female boxing medallist Caitlin Parker and South Australian Callum Peters.
Last month, the IOC granted provisional recognition to World Boxing in a major step towards the sport’s inclusion in the LA Games and Thursday’s decision ensured the sport’s Olympic presence would continue.
“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 boxing competition at the Paris 2024 Games was run by the IOC after it had stripped the International Boxing Association of recognition in 2023 over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance.
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The IOC had not included the sport on the initial LA 2028 program, having urged national boxing federations to create a new global boxing body to replace the IBA. World Boxing, currently with more than 80 national federations as members, was launched in 2023.
The IOC has said only athletes whose national federations were members of World Boxing by the time of the start of the qualification events for the 2028 Olympics could take part in Los Angeles.
The IOC suspended the IBA, run by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev with close links to the Kremlin, in 2019 over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues.
It did not involve the IBA in running the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and in a rare move two years later stripped it of recognition.
