Rio Olympics boxing officials barred from officiating at Tokyo 2020
Thursday 21 November 2019 07:44, UK
None of the boxing referees and judges involved in the Rio Olympics will be allowed to officiate at Tokyo 2020, an International Olympic Committee task force has decided.
All 36 referees and judges from 2016 were suspended in the wake of the Games as the International Boxing Association (AIBA) carried out an investigation, following allegations that Olympic fights were fixed.
Several judges and referees were sent home from Brazil after a number of questionable decisions during the boxing tournament.
While AIBA's investigation in 2017 found no interference in results and recommended that the Rio judges be reintegrated on a "case by case basis", the IOC's new selection criteria ruled them ineligible for the Tokyo Games.
The task force said its decision followed discussions with athletes to increase clarity, transparency and integrity in the selection process and officiating at the Olympics.
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"The main objective of the IOC boxing task force is to ensure the completion of the mission of delivering events, while putting the boxers first, and with transparent and credible sporting results and fair play," boxing task force chair Morinari Watanabe said.
At Tokyo, referees and judges will be picked from a pool of officials comprising qualified AIBA-certified individuals who have been reviewed to ensure they meet the selection criteria.
The boxing task force will then randomly select every official for each competition.
The full selection process will be conducted under the independent supervision of PwC.
It was also announced that scores from all judges at the end of each round will be displayed publicly during qualifying competitions and the Games.
The task force was set up to organise qualifiers and the Tokyo Games competition following IOC's decision to suspend AIBA in June until the issues surrounding its finances and governance were resolved.
