Amateur boxing does not remain with both feet in the same shoe. The last Olympiad was marked by the entry of women into the Games program. The news promises to be at least as lively, with the arrival of professionals within the International Amateur Boxing Association, a reform of the refereeing body and the launch of a vast development program. Exclusively for FrancsJeux.com, AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu reveals the future of amateur boxing. Interview – by Alain Mercier.
FrancsJeux : You have just received in Lausanne, at the AIBA headquarters, the new president of the French Boxing Federation, André Martin, and his vice-president, the former Olympic champion Brahim Asloum. What was the purpose of this meeting?
Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu : I usually send a welcome message to the new leaders of AIBA member federations. French boxing has changed governance. I therefore wanted to continue this tradition with André Martin and Brahim Asloum, to know their projects, to assure them that AIBA would be at their side. We had an excellent exchange. André Martin knows boxing very well. He has been involved in its operation for many years. I am convinced that he can bring France back to the highest level.
Beyond the welcome message, what did you talk about?
AIBA has no shortage of projects for the months and years to come. I wanted to explain its nature and details to the French leaders. For example, we discussed together the launch in October 2013 of the APB, the federation created by AIBA for professional boxers. I would like France to join this unique structure. The APB will in fact offer the possibility for athletes to turn professional without leaving their national federation, within a reliable and very structured organization. French boxing currently has several champions who could participate.
Looking back a few months, what is your assessment of the London Olympic Games?
An excellent record. These Games were, by all accounts, among the most successful in History. And boxing has, I believe, met with immense success there. These Games were marked by the arrival of women's boxing in the program. I know that many were skeptical, before the Games, about the interest of this discipline. But the boxers were able to convince everyone. We are already working to develop women's boxing with a view to the next Games.
Despite everything, the London Games were marked by certain controversies in the refereeing of the fights...
It's true. But we were able to react by sending home, in the middle of the tournament, two referees whose decisions were contested. But it is important to know, to better understand the difficulties encountered by the judges, that the level of competition continues to increase. The fights are getting tighter and tighter. In London, several of them ended with only a point or two difference between the two boxers, something unthinkable in the past.
How do you plan to resolve this issue?
We are working on it. We organize seminars dedicated to refereeing, where past decisions and how to move forward are studied and discussed. We are going to create a body of professional referees, employed full-time by AIBA. They will no longer depend on their respective federations. Their mission will also be to travel to the different member countries of the Association to train national referees. This refereeing reform will be effective for the Rio Games in 2016.
At the start of the Olympics, what is your priority as president of AIBA?
My priority is twofold. The first concerns the launch, in October 2013, of the APB, the professional side of AIBA. I can already tell you that many Olympic selections from the London Games will be part of it. The other priority is also quite immediate: the opening of the AIBA global academy next fall. A major project, intended to allow boxers and coaches to benefit from a very high-level structure for training and training. This academy will be located in Almaty, Kazakhstan. And it will be implemented on the continental level by equivalent structures, in Zambia for Africa, in Italy for Europe, and perhaps in China for Asia.
Will we one day see the big names in professional boxing compete in the Olympics?
We already have the program and the project. But we must move forward step by step. Look at women's boxing: no one believed it, today everyone enjoyed their debut at the London Games. We want to follow the same path for professional boxing.
A word on the exclusion of wrestling from the Olympic program. As an IOC member, what do you think of this decision?
It was taken by the IOC Executive Board, after examining the work of the working group dedicated to the development of the program. But wrestling is not yet excluded from the Games. It has joined the list of seven sports applying for entry into the 2020 Games. It will have the opportunity to be chosen during the IOC General Assembly in September 2013 in Buenos Aires. Nothing is therefore lost.
