(ATR) With the fate of Olympic boxing at stake, the seven candidates to become president of the embattled international federation enter the final round of their campaigns.
The election will be held Dec. 12 during a virtual Congress with a new constitution also on the agenda.
ATR takes a look at the ideas proposed to transform AIBA, starting with the manifesto from Boris van der Vorst, who promises "A Clean Break for World Boxing."
The president of the Dutch Boxing Federation released a slick 13-page booklet on his website, boxing2020.org, in which he quotes such heavyweights as Albert Einstein and Aristotle. He also sent copies to the national federations, of which only 143 of the 200 are eligible to vote.
Van der Vorst, 48, vows to "lead AIBA back into the family of trusted International Olympic Sports Federations."
He cited four main pillars: Real governance reform, Restored trust of boxers and fans, Financial sustainability and AIBA that inspires.
"We all know that our sport is in serious trouble," wrote van der Vorst, who is also chair of the European Boxing Confederation Passion for Boxing Commission. "It is time for a complete change of leadership, management and culture within our sport."
Among his business pursuits, he is the founder, co-owner and CEO of FysioHolland, a persona physiotherapeutic practice with more than 100 locations and 500 employees.
The other candidates for president are Anas Al Otaiba of United Arab Emirates; Umar Kremlev of Russia; Suleyman Mikayilov of Azerbaijan; Mohamed Moustahsane, the current leader, of Morocco; Al-Masri Ramie of Germany and Domingo Solano of Dominican Republic.
Corruption scandals -- involving both governance and competition -- have plagued AIBA. The organization lost the right to be recognized as an international Olympic Federation in June 2019 by vote of the IOC session. Besides losing IOC funding, AIBA is not organizing the boxing competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and will derive no benefits.
"I believe it is not too late to turn things around and we can meet the criteria to lift the suspensionof the recognition by the IOC," van der Vorst wrote.
AIBA hopes to be reinstated in time to organize the Paris 2024 Games.
The Dutchman said that those responsible for the current situation must be knocked out of leadership positions and he will work to transparently restructure deals with creditors.
With AIBA about $20 million in debt, van der Vorst said resolving AIBA’s financial issues "requires a sensible and sustainable approach of top management, not a one-time payment from unspecified sources."
He said that going forward, "all loans, joint ventures, rights transfers or other tenders must be openly examined and approved by the board."
With such transparency, van der Vorst added, "I am convinced that AIBA’s creditors will positively respond to changes in the management style that I will implement and will be willing to renegotiate their agreements openly to allow faster recovery for AIBA."
To restore trust, van der Vorst wants to combat sport manipulation and develop a more detailed definition of bout scoring criteria.
"Only after the sport integrity and governance standards will have improved, it will be possible for us to develop a sustainable commercial strategy and engage potential sponsors," he said.
While van der Vorst touted the values of honesty, respect, excellence, inclusiveness and teamwork, he said national federations "cannot be ordered to unite, having been cheated and neglected in the past."
He hopes to develop additional revenues by working directly with national federations and confederations to develop comprehensive marketing strategies
Van der Vorst envisions amendments to the proposed constitution at the upcoming Congress. If that is not achieved, he would order a new virtual congress within four months.
Reported byKaren Rosen. For general comments or questions,click here.
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