IBA still kicking the can down the road on 2016 Olympic corruption
IBA still kicking the can down the road on 2016 Olympic corruption
Compiled By Scott Shaffer
13/12/2021
Compiled By Scott Shaffer
13/12/2021
IBA's McClaren Independent Investigation Team [MIIT] still has not reached a final conclusion on the degree that corrupt judging tainted tithe results of the 2016 Olympic boxing tournament. "MIIT did not at the time of reporting in September 2021 have all the data available to complete its analysis of the Rio bouts but did indicate that some bouts were manipulated or were highly suspicious of being manipulated. Having undergone rigorous analysis of bouts [...] the MIIT has concluded that it is virtually impossible to establish to the degree of legal certainty required for discipline to conclude that a boxing match has been manipulated. However, there is no final determination as to whether match-manipulation has occurred. In the course of reaching that conclusion the MIIT has identified the fact that the subjectivity of the judging and the difficulty in gathering evidence stands in the way of making definitive conclusions of bout manipulation."
Here is the damning introduction to the MIIT investigative report commissioned by IBA itself:
The Rio Summer Olympic Games (“Rio”) was one of the lowest points in the history of the International Boxing Association (“AIBA”) [now known as IBA]. The opportunity for AIBA to generate change needed to finally stymie the corruption that had flourished within the organisation up until that point was squandered. To the outside observer the organization in the face of accusations of bout manipulation took decisive action – AIBA stood down the Referees and Judges (“R&J”) and ITO’s unless they were EC members. Ever since, however they have been left in limbo. The Executive Director Karim Bouzidi (“Bouzidi”) followed suit, first suspended, and eventually dismissed. These actions however were an artificial smokescreen meant to detract attention from what actually happened at Rio as reported in the McLaren Independent Investigation Team’s (“MIIT”) Stage 1 Report.
In the year subsequent, President CK Wu was forced to resign from office as a result of his failings. The combination of the actions taken at Rio should have heralded a fresh start for the
organisation. Instead, these same problems continued manifesting themselves. In particular the bout manipulation and corruption that had arisen at Rio could have disappeared. It did not!
