The International Boxing Association's (IBA) President Umar Kremlev has been accused of prioritizing his own interests over those of the athletes.
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The International Boxing Association’s (IBA) President Umar Kremlev has been accused of prioritizing his own interests over those of the athletes he represents by its critics and has warned that a rival organization may be formed to try to secure the sport’s future in the Olympic Games. Boxing has now been threatened with elimination from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after already being dropped from the schedule for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The threat was made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in response to the IBA’s multimillion-dollar contract renewal with Gazprom, the government-owned energy company of Russia.
Even while Kremlev continues to enjoy the support of many national governing bodies, USA Boxing, the largest and historically most significant member of the IBA, has made it clear that they do not share his views and have threatened to look into other options to keep the sport on the Olympic schedule. Here is what the executive director and chief executive of the USA Boxing, Mike McAtee, had to say:
“While it is clear that the future of Olympic boxing is in jeopardy, USA Boxing remains fully committed to supporting the IOC’s clear requirements for readmission into the Olympic movement: prioritizing (sic) the needs of boxers (athletes), fair play, proper governance, ethical leadership, and financial stability to meet the requirements to keep boxing in the Olympic program. IBA President Kremlev was recently quoted in an IBA web post dated December 11, 2023,’…The IOC must hear us. We have the same goals as them, to create the best conditions for the athletes. We should fight for our sport at the Olympics. I want to stress that not a single boxer, coach or National Federation will be participating in the Olympic Games without IBA”, he stated.
“USA Boxing is concerned that IBA is prioritizing (sic) its own role in the Olympics above the interests of the boxers. To be clear, Kremlev’s statement is the opinion of one person who does not speak for all 38,000+ USA Boxing’s boxers or other National Federations and their boxers. Boxers, coaches and officials have been participating in Olympic Qualification and the Olympic Games without the participation by IBA, most recently throughout the Tokyo 2020 Olympic cycle. The IBA President and/or the Board of Directors do NOT have the constitutional authority to deny boxers, coaches, or officials from participating in boxing at local, national, and certainly not Olympic Qualification and Olympic Games level competitions, without specific violations of the rules and without judicial process. USA Boxing officially rejects Kremlev’s false and misleading statement,” he further added.
Kremlev asserted that the IOC was targeting him because he was Russian and accused them of influencing boxing “for geopolitical purposes,” which he claimed violated the IOC’s own Olympic Charter. Even, Kremlev had threatened the IOC that it would not permit its athletes and officials to compete in events they were not affiliated with.
