Rio boxing controversy: All 36 officials from Olympic Games suspended

All 36 boxing referees and judges involved at the Rio 2016 Olympics have been suspended. The officials will be sidelined as the International Boxing Association looks in depth at some of their controversial rulings, particularly those under the new ‘10 point must’ scoring system. The organisation said that the referee and judging investigation would allow it to assess what action needed to be taken. It added: “In the meantime, it has been decided that all 36 R&Js that were used at the Olympic Games will not officiate at any AIBA event until the investigation reaches its conclusion.”

While the majority of the boxing competition in Rio 2016 was received very positively… a small number of decisions under debate indicated that further reforms in the AIBA R&J [referee and judging] procedures were necessary.

AIBA statement

AIBA dropped a number of unidentified judges and referees during the competition, after finding that “less than a handful” of the decisions from 239 bouts reviewed were not at the level expected. It also reassigned its French executive director Karim Bouzidi to a new role during the competition in August. Ireland’s Michael Conlan was among those left fuming, declaring that the judges were “f****** cheats” after he was denied what appeared to be a clear decision - a travesty which prompted a huge outcry and prompted one young fan to send Conlan a medal.

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