(ATR) USA Boxing will endorse a candidate for AIBA president based on a questionnaire sent to the seven contenders.
Mike McAtee, Executive Director of USA Boxing, tells Around the Rings that the 10 questions will reveal "great insight into the platforms or the manifestos of all the candidates" vying to lead the international boxing federation, which has been suspended by the IOC.
McAtee said that the Lalovic Report, commissioned by the IOC, "called for change of leadership, focusing on governance and athletes, so this election has an opportunity to move Olympic-style boxing forward."
The election will be held Dec. 12 during a virtual congress.
In posing the questions, USA Boxing revealed its position and statistics supporting that stance. The questions, some paraphrased and abbreviated, concern:
1) Position on allowing professional boxers to participate in amateur Olympic-style boxing. AIBA voted in 2015 to allow professional boxers into the 2016 Rio Games. In December 2016, USA Boxing’s Board of Directors unanimously agreed that pro boxers should not be allowed to participate at the Olympic Games.
2) Position on making headgear mandatory at all age levels (male/female elite, youth and junior) of competition. In 2013, AIBA approved a rule removing headgear/headguards from elite male boxers. USA Boxing believes headgear should be worn by all ages male and female boxers.
3) Position on gender equity and how the new president would move to gender equity by 2028. USA Boxing believes there should be gender equity in elite age Olympic weight classes by the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Currently, there are eight weight classes for men and five for women.
4) Position on asking members of the AIBA Executive Committee or any person named in the Lalovic Report to resign. Also, if named in the Lalovic Report, "how will you explain to National Federations and the IOC how you can successfully change the leadership culture of AIBA?"
5) Plan for rebuilding the trust of the IOC and Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), as well as committing to having an IOC and ASOIF representative invited to all leadership meetings through the 2024 Paris Games.
6) Commitment on providing actual transparent "audited" reports, how to guarantee independently audited financials, knowledge of properly executed agreements and loan confirmation documents and commitment to publicly publish the documents.
7) Plan to raise new revenue not from events, since future revenue must pay for past debts.
8) Identify the top five challenges that AIBA faces, listed in order of importance with plans to address each challenge.
9) Commitment to and pledge not to change National Federations’ right of autonomy in regard to safety rules that "…reflect National laws or regulations…?"
10) Lessons AIBA leaders should have learned from the failures of the World Series of Boxing and AIBA Professional Boxing. Both programs are bankrupt and contributed heavily to the indebtedness of AIBA.
The seven 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; Ramie Al-Masri of Germany, Domingo Solano of Dominican Republic and Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands.
Written by Karen Rosen
This article is brought to you by Quattro Sport. We work with some of the world’s largest sporting events, brands and government institutions, providing over 30 years international sporting experience, developing successful bid strategies, strategic operational and marketing plans and helping deliver world class events.
Quattro Sport is 4 Sport and we are ready for you.
For general comments or questions,click here.
Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
