After plenty of discussions and meetings during the Paris 2024, the World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst achieved a special milestone. This occurred when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted a provisional recognition to the sport’s international governing federation.
Van der Vorst is now hoping for a step forward where the boxing event will be included in the LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 rosters. He also underlined a no manipulation policy for the referees and judges in an interview to the New Indian Express.
What does the provisional recognition mean to boxing and its community as a whole?
It is a very significant step for everyone connected with the sport of Olympic boxing throughout the world. This takes boxing a step closer to being restored to the Olympic programme and keeping its place at the subsequent Olympic Games. It’s absolutely critical to the future of our sport in every level from the grassroots, the high performance, the professional boxing. However, this has taken a huge team effort from a lot of people across the globe. None of this would have been possible without the hard work and commitment of all the national federations, the boxers, the coaches, officials and boxing leaders that have worked together to make this possible.
What is important to stress is that the decision by the IOC to recognise World Boxing is an important milestone. However, everyone connected with World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic movement is a privilege and responsibility and not a right. There’s still a lot of work to do. The real work is starting now and everyone at WB is committed to working together and doing everything within our power to deliver a better future for our sport. A sustainable future, a brilliant future and ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement.
Your take on refereeing and judging and the use of technology, including AI, something that you touched upon even before the Paris Games…
The most important part is still the R&Js themselves. Of course, we need to have a system in place which allows no gaps for manipulation. That I think is the most important thing. At the same time, training our R&Js to have a high level of competence so that they are competent enough to officiate our competitions.
At the same time we are already exploring and engaging AI projects for reviewing and to optimise the system. It’s important to stress that there are several systems already in the field to make the officiating fair and more transparent.
Almost all the officials, referees and judges are the same (as in the earlier federations).
In regards to officiating or the governance in Tokyo and Paris show that you can organise boxing competitions without manipulation. And it’s with third party oversight and those elements and not creating gaps, allowing R&Js to manipulate. I think it’s important that we follow these procedures and we implement them also within WB.
Where do you see boxing in the next 10 years?
I want to see boxing back at the LA Games, Brisbane and onwards. What I think is important is that ultimately, it’s the IOC’s decision. As I told you, by recognising WB, the IOC has recognised that we have made good progress. Our focus is on continuing to make progress and showing we can deliver a successful and sustainable sporting structure based on strong governance where fairness and sporting integrity is guaranteed.
Provisional recognition or full recognition is not a right, but a privilege. It gives a responsibility to the boxers, to the whole boxing world, also to our stakeholders. And that’s something I think the real work is just starting.
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