The best part is that the Russian president of the IBA, the Kremlev, had him certified by McLaren, the man who made the state doping scandal known.
Gc Milano 17/04/2012 – Sky press conference “Less than 100 days for the Olympics” / photo Giuseppe Celeste / Sport image in the photo: Clemente Russo
Bankruptcy, accused of corruption by the man who had already discovered the doping scandal of the Russian state, was saved by the sponsorship of Gazprom, the most powerful Russian state-owned company. Thanks to an agreement signed by the president of the IBA (World Boxing Association), the controversial Russian Umar Kremlev, who – incredibly – asked Professor McLaren to certify this rescue operation in a report. Boxing was in serious danger of not being admitted to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic program. Now, with finances in order, it will be easier.
“Corruption, bribery and manipulation of sports results”. The judges exchanged signals next to the ring to organize the matches. That was boxing at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Richard McLaren, the licensed professor who had researched and discovered the pot of the Russian doping system, wrote it in black and white in his report. The seed of corruption had been sown in previous years, with suspicious encounters even before and during London in 2012. According to the investigation, there was a culture of “favors”, especially among post-Soviet countries.
McLaren said corruption had reached the top of the institutions with two senior Aiba officials – Wu Ching-kuo and Karim Bouzidi, then president and chief executive respectively – who are believed to be “key players” in the system. Wu was banned from the sport for life in 2018.
In a letter to Aiba, the International Boxing Association now known as the IBA, the IOC Executive Committee had expressed its “deep concern” and reiterated “the previous position regarding the presence of boxing in the program of the IBA. 2008 Los Angeles Olympics and in future editions of the Olympics “. Specifically, the IOC called for clarification on “finance, governance, ethics, arbitration and judges”, ending the Aiba, but confirming boxing in the Tokyo 2020 program.
Finance in particular is the decisive lever to permanently eliminate the association with collapse. And now comes a new report from Richard McLaren. The world’s governing body of boxing had plunged into an unprecedented economic crisis due to projects launched during CK Wu’s tenure.
The election of Umar Kremlev in December 2020 helped provide financial stability to the IBA, but its dependence on the Russian state-owned company Gazprom was a source of friction between the governing body and the IOC. before Moscow ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February. The IOC said the IBA’s financial reliance on individual sources of income from outside investors was one of the reasons for its high level of debt, which would have reached at least $ 16 million at some point. Kremlev can now honestly say that if the IBA is now debt-free, it owes it to its sponsorship deal with Gazprom.. “Gazprom’s financial contribution has put an end to the danger posed by AIBA and saved it from financial collapse. Whatever the debate over the source of the funds, it has ensured the continued survival of the IBA, “the McLaren report said.
The beauty is that it was the Kremlev IBA that commissioned McLaren“I am grateful to Professor McLaren and his team for the key role they played in the boxing reform process.”