The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal presented by the International Boxing Association (IBA) against the decision adopted by the IOC session of June 22, 2023 that withdrew recognition by the IOC of the IBA as the International Federation for the sport of boxing, something that has jeopardized the presence of this sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The IOC session made its decision based on the recommendation issued by the IOC Executive Board (IOC EB) on June 7, 2023 after a long process, started shortly after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, during which the IOC requested the IBA to take various measures related to its governance and financial stability. This process included the implementation of a roadmap, recommended by the IOC to the IBA in December 2021, to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the IOC Executive Board that the IBA had successfully addressed the current areas of concern prior to the IOC session. IOC in 2023, where the inclusion of boxing in the Olympic program would be discussed.

On June 27, 2023, the IBA filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the IOC session’s decision and requested that it be “completely annulled.” The CAS heard the parties and their legal representatives on November 16, 2023 at its headquarters in Lausanne (Switzerland) and subsequently noted that the IBA had not complied with the conditions established by the IOC for such recognition.

THE REQUIREMENTS THAT THE IOC REQUESTED FROM THE IBA

The CAS’s argument for its decision was based on the following points:

1 – The IBA had not made progress in its transparency or financial sustainability.
2 – The IBA had not changed its process related to referees and judges to ensure their integrity, including a period of monitoring the IBA’s own competitions before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
3 – The IBA had not ensured the full and effective implementation of all measures proposed by the “Governance Reform Group” established by the IOC, including a change of culture.

As a consequence, the CAS determined that these three elements justified the IOC’s decision to withdraw recognition of the IBA and emphasized that the IOC’s right to control the conditions under which it confers recognition outweighed the IBA’s personality rights.

The decision has been notified to the parties and will be published by the CAS unless the parties request confidentiality.