THE INTERNATIONAL BOXING ASSOCIATION (AIBA) have responded to Michael Conlan’s accusation that they are “f*****g cheats”.
An angry Conlan claimed that “amateur boxing stinks” after he missed out on a guaranteed medal in highly controversial circumstances at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday afternoon.
Responding to Conlan’s comments, boxing officials played down the controversy, however.
A spokesperson expressed sympathy for the Belfast native, telling reporters: “Michael is a current world champion and he came here with high expectations.
“His disappointment is massive, we can all understand that.”
However, the AIBA representative rejected claims of bias in the judging, saying: “It’s his personal judgment.”
The official added: “AIBA is striving for a fair, level playing field. The idea is not to benefit one country towards another. These statements are foundless but he’s free to have his opinion.”
Others, however, disagreed, with plenty of high-profile boxing figures expressing their outrage at the fight’s outcome.
The stats also suggested Conlan was hard done by, as Russian Vladimir Nikitin was declared the victor by unanimous decision.
Meanwhile, the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) have issued a statement calling for a review of amateur boxing’s judging process.
“The IABA fully understands the frustration expressed by our athletes and coaches regarding the outcome of some of the bouts at the Games particularly given the split decisions that went against three of our athletes, the casting decision which saw Katie lose and the controversy around Michael Conlan’s defeat earlier today.
We do not have an option to appeal decisions at the Olympic Games. IABA do however believe that in light of events in Rio, it is in the best interests of amateur Olympic boxing that the scoring and judging process is reviewed. We will look to work with other national federations and AIBA to ensure that this happens.
“The boxers and the coaches are devastated and our primary concern at the moment is to support each of those who competed at Rio and who have dedicated the last four years of their lives to pursue their Olympic dreams.
“We are so proud of each of the 7 Irish boxers who competed in Rio and want to thank Steven, Joe, David, Brendan, Michael, Paddy and Katie, the IABA High Performance coaching team of Zaur, John, Eddie, the support staff, as well as all the other members of the High Performance Programme who did not make it to the Olympics, for the contribution they have made to Irish boxing over the last number of years.
The nature of international sport is that it is continuously evolving. With that in mind we will be conducting a review of the entire High Performance Programme for the four years from London 2012 to Rio 2016 and will publish the outcome of that review later this year. An imperative of the review will be to establish that the systems supporting our zero-tolerance approach to doping in sport are in line with international best practice.
“This review forms part of a larger strategic review of the IABA, to ensure the further growth and development of Irish boxing at all levels, which is currently underway and that we hope to have ready for publication in December.”
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