Boxing given nod for Los Angeles Olympic Games
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Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 20.03.25. | 14:38
The decision ends years of division in the sport which has featured in all (except 1912) Olympic Games since 1904
Boxing will feature at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after International Olympic Committee members voted unanimously for its inclusion on Thursday.
The sport had already passed one test when the IOC Executive Board on Monday recognized World Boxing as the federation to oversee the sport.
This decision ensures that boxing remains a key part of the Olympic Movement, giving athletes the chance to compete on the world’s biggest stage. pic.twitter.com/CDXRsNkJJU
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) March 20, 2025
It ends years of divisions over the way the sport -- which has featured at every Olympic Games since 1904, except Stockholm in 1912 as it was barred under a Swedish law -- is run.
The IOC stepped in to organise the boxing tournaments at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris Olympics last year after breaking with the Russian-led International Boxing Association over financial, governance and ethical concerns.
IOC president Thomas Bach had warned that boxing's national federations needed to find a new and "reliable" international partner if it wanted to be included at the 2028 Games.
Last month, the IOC provisionally recognised World Boxing as the body to oversee the sport at future Olympics.
As currently constructed, World Boxing consists of 84 countries, with Kenya not being among the signatories.
At the recently concluded IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Serbia, the Kenyan contingent threatened to break out and sign with World Boxing, following poor refereeing.
The sentiments were echoed after Kenya’s light-heavyweight Elizabeth Andiego saw her quarter-final bout prematurely ended on an eight-second standing count.
Assistant coach David Munuhe, incensed by the decision, said post-fight: “The IBA is talking about fair play - was that really fair play? What the IBA have to do now is retrain their officials.
There’s a chance we will join World Boxing because if we’re not liked here, we go to the next town.”
Thursday’s vote is one of the last to be conducted under Bach, whose 12-year tenure is coming to a close.
His successor as president will be decided in a vote later on Thursday.
There are seven candidates, with the front-runners IOC veteran Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe and former Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe.
Additional information by AFP.
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