Following the completion of the boxing tournament at Paris 2024, the President of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, said:
“The last 14 days of action at Paris 2024 have once again shown why boxing is such a central and important part of the Olympic Movement.
“The high-quality competition has produced a series of memorable bouts featuring 248 men and women from 69 countries across the world.
“It has shown why the Olympic Games is so important to boxing and why the sport is one of the most effective in delivering the values of the Olympic charter as shown by the diversity of the athlete cohort and the number of countries taking part and winning medals. Boxing truly is a global sport in which all countries have the opportunity to compete and a chance of Olympic glory.
“After such a fantastic and hard-fought competition, I would like to congratulate every boxer that has competed in Paris and especially the 52 men and women, from 30 countries plus the Refugee Olympic Team, that have won a medal.
“I would also like to thank the Paris Boxing Unit (PBU) for delivering the competition and the qualification campaign and congratulate them on the fantastic staging of the event.
“The North Paris Arena and Roland Garros have been superb venues and both have enjoyed noisy sell-out crowds that have provided a brilliant platform to showcase the skills, determination and courage of the boxers.
“The energy, passion and emotions seen during this tournament have shown that this is the absolute pinnacle for boxers and it would be a tragedy if Paris 2024 turned out to be the last time ever that boxing appeared on the Olympic programme.
“It would be devastating for everyone connected with the sport at all levels and in every part of the world. Fewer people will come into the sport at the grassroots and there will be less opportunities for boxers at the elite levels of both amateur and professional boxing. It would be a disaster that we cannot allow to happen.
“Since it expelled the previous international federation, the IOC has made it abundantly clear that the only way that boxing will be restored to the programme for Los Angeles 2028 is if it has a trusted and reliable International Federation (IF) to work with that has support of the National Federations (NFs).
“World Boxing is that IF. And we are committed to creating a sustainable and inclusive sporting structure – underpinned by strong governance and transparent financial management – where all boxers can compete and excel knowing that the integrity of the sport is guaranteed and competition is fair.
“Coming into the Games, World Boxing was established as a credible organisation with 37 member NFs covering every Continent that participates in boxing.
“In the course of the tournament we have received several completed membership applications from NFs to join World Boxing and, following my conversations with numerous boxing leaders from across the world over the last two weeks in Paris, I am very confident that we will soon have more than 50 members, as the leaders of many NFs have assured me that they will apply to join World Boxing once this tournament is completed.
“We are also delivering a calendar of high-quality competitions. In September we will hold our first event in Asia when the World Boxing Cup takes place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and in October and November we will host our first global World Boxing Championships, when the U19 World Championships get underway in Colorado, USA.
“Crucially World Boxing has established relations with the IOC, following a meeting in May 2024, and World Boxing has developed a pathway to ensuring that boxing is restored to the programme of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028.
“This pathway is dependent upon NFs, and the IOC has made it clear that any country that wants to see their boxers have the opportunity to compete at a future Olympic Games needs to take immediate steps to join World Boxing.
“This is the only course of action that will ensure that Paris 2024 is not the last time we see boxing at the Olympic Games. We cannot allow boxing to exit the Olympic stage, and I invite every NF that cares about their boxers and the future of the sport to take immediate steps to join World Boxing now and work with us to deliver a better future for the sport and ensure that boxing continues .
Credit: World Boxing
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