Further to the decision taken yesterday by AIBA with regard to the reassessment of the judges and referees officiating during Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the AIBA Vice Presidents and Executive Board members have decided to reassign immediately the current AIBA Executive Director to a new role within the organization. Consequently, the operational responsibilities for the remainder of the Olympic Boxing Competition will now fall under the responsibilities of the most senior Vice President of the AIBA Executive Board, Mr Franco Falcinelli, President of the European Boxing Confederation.

The Olympic Games represent the pinnacle of all sports and Boxing has been part of this since 1904. Since the beginning of Rio 2016, AIBA has conducted 250 bouts and remains fully committed to a zero tolerance policy towards fair play in boxing always acting in the boxers’ utmost interest.

The latest decisions taken emphasized AIBA will not shy away from its responsibilities and will continue to ensure a level playing field and a fair and transparent sport. It is of paramount importance to protect our sport and its R&J community whose integrity is constantly put into question.  

Several referees and judges have been removed from the Olympic boxing competition after officials reviewed their decisions, fueling suspicion of dubious results in some matches at the Rio Games.

A spokesman for the federation that governs the boxing tournament said Wednesday that the names of the referees and judges who were dismissed, and the matches that were tainted, would not be released because he did not want to “besmirch their families.”

The international federation, known as AIBA, said in a statement that the committee that reviews officiating had assessed all 239 bouts at the Rio Games through Tuesday and had “determined that less than a handful of the decisions were not at the level expected.”

The federation statement also said that “the concerned referees and judges will no longer officiate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.”

The move came a day after Michael Conlan, an Irish bantamweight, accused the federation of corruption and suggested that Russian boxing officials had bribed judges. Conlan’s accusations came in an expletive-filled tirade after he lost his quarterfinal to Vladimir Nikitin of Russia. Nikitin won a unanimous decision, but the public response to the verdict suggested that many observers believed Conlan should have won.

The judges’ decision in the Conlan-Nikitin fight was not the first at the Rio Games to draw scrutiny. On Monday, the crowd jeered when another Russian fighter, Evgeny Tishchenko, was awarded a unanimous decision over Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan, who appeared to have won the bout handily.

Two of the three judges who scored Conlan’s bout — Jones Kennedy Silva do Rosario of Brazil and Udeni Talik Bandara Kiridena of Sri Lanka — returned to officiate on Wednesday. All three judges had scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Nikitin.

The boxing federation did not say how many decisions it deemed insufficient, and it did not specify what was wrong with those decisions. None of the decisions will be overturned, AIBA said.

Coaches at the boxing venue Wednesday said that the scoring system left a lot of room for interpretation and that the judges, although well trained, were not infallible. They also expressed relief that the issue of inadequate judging was being addressed, although they dismissed the accusations of corruption.

“I’m glad some action was taken,” said Billy Walsh, a coach of the United States team. “Anybody can make a mistake, but it’s happened too often.”

Kay Koroma, who also coaches the Americans, said, “I don’t think it’s corruption; it’s just bad decision making.”

AIBA invited people with evidence about bribing judges to step forward.

“With regard to corruption, we would like to strongly restate that unless tangible proof is put forward, not rumors, we will continue to use any means, including legal or disciplinary actions, to protect our sport” and the referees and judges “whose integrity is constantly put into question,” the federation’s statement said. 

The federation chooses from 36 judges and referees at the Rio Games. AIBA picks five judges to work each bout and prohibits judges from a fighter’s country, or from a country in conflict with a fighter’s country, from working a bout.

After each fight, a computer program randomly determines which three of the five judges’ scorecards will be counted. The other two scorecards are thrown out.

Still, questions about judging will continue. “If they really prove that there was some kind of corruption, it is really very sad, but for now there’s no proof of anything, only rumors,” said Mateus Alves, a Brazilian coach.