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http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/sep/23/boxing-azerbaijan-medals-cash
Azerbaijan 'paid $9m for London 2012 Olympic boxing golds'
Head of governing body announces investigation after BBC alleges that
Azerbaijan paid $9m in return for Olympic golds
by Owen Gibson
Thursday 22 September 2011
The governing body that oversees world boxing has promised to launch
an immediate investigation into allegations that its subsidiary
accepted millions of dollars in return for a promise of guaranteed
gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics.
The BBC claimed that whistleblowers said the head of World Series
Boxing, the ambitious attempt by the International Amateur Boxing
Association (Aiba) to launch a global amateur series to rival the
professional code, had accepted $9m (£5.85m) from Azerbaijan in return
for a promise it would win two golds in the London games.
Aiba, which organises the judging and administration of the sport at
the Olympics, admitted that an Azeri national paid $9m to WSB to
invest in its American franchises. But lawyers for Aiba told the BBC
the allegation that medals were bought was "preposterous and utterly
untrue".
World Series Boxing was launched in a blaze of publicity last year but
had been rumoured to be struggling financially.
The BBC claims to have emails showing the investment agreement was
presented to Azerbaijan government officials and asked for the money
to be paid to the WSB American operations. Aiba said the money was
from an unnamed investor but was routed through the government.
The BBC said whistleblowers claimed the money was promised in return
for two gold medals by WSB chief operating officer Ivan Khodabakhsh.
He said: "First of all no comment, second of all, it's an absolute lie."
Aiba president Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, who has repeatedly claimed that he has
ushered in a new transparent era for boxing, said the claims were
"totally untrue", "ludicrous" and "totally impossible".
But he said Aiba had a "zero tolerance" policy to corruption and would
launch an immediate investigation.
"I want you to know ... how much effort I put in to clean the house.
Four vice-presidents, a secretary general, six [members of the]
executive committee, all expelled because of wrongdoing." Wu told
Newsnight. "Any corruption or manipulation is totally unacceptable. We
have been cleaning the house for the last four years. I can guarantee
you Aiba, like the other international federations, is fighting
corruption."
But he added: "If something happened, we will definitely investigate.
If this is a true story we will immediately fire Ivan. There is no way
we can accept it."
The International Olympic Committee, whose president Jacques Rogge has
been vocal on the fight against corruption in sport, urged the BBC to
hand over any relevant evidence.
"We welcome Aiba's announcement of an immediate inquiry into these
claims and we await the outcome of their investigation. For its part,
the IOC takes all allegations of corruption very seriously."
"We would urge the BBC to make any evidence they have available to
AIBA and to our ethics commission which will then determine if further
action is necessary."
Aiba and WSB said in a statement they believed the allegations had
been "made by individuals with an axe to grind, who are totally
discredited". They added: "As well as unjustifiably imputing
corruption to AIBA/WSB, they demonstrate a complete misunderstanding
of the procedures which lead to the award of Olympic boxing medals and
the impossibility of influencing these."
The allegations will put the judging in next summer's boxing
competition, for which all the tickets so far put on sale have sold
out, under the spotlight. Like other sports that rely on subjective
judging, Olympic boxing has previously faced allegations of one
fighter being unfairly favoured over another.
The most notorious incident related to Roy Jones' light-middleweight
final against South Korea's Park Si-Hun in Seoul in 1988.
Despite landing more than twice as many punches as his opponent, Jones
lost the verdict on a 3-2 split among the five judges. All three
judges who ruled in favour of the South Korean were subsequently
suspended.The IOC pointed out that changes had been made in recent
years to make the judging process more transparent.
"We would note that the judging process in boxing as in other sports
at the Games are transparent and open to public scrutiny, and a number
of sports including boxing have made significant changes to their
procedures in recent years to deal with any potential issues."
Azerbaijan 'paid $9m for London 2012 Olympic boxing golds'
Head of governing body announces investigation after BBC alleges that
Azerbaijan paid $9m in return for Olympic golds
by Owen Gibson
Thursday 22 September 2011
The governing body that oversees world boxing has promised to launch
an immediate investigation into allegations that its subsidiary
accepted millions of dollars in return for a promise of guaranteed
gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics.
The BBC claimed that whistleblowers said the head of World Series
Boxing, the ambitious attempt by the International Amateur Boxing
Association (Aiba) to launch a global amateur series to rival the
professional code, had accepted $9m (£5.85m) from Azerbaijan in return
for a promise it would win two golds in the London games.
Aiba, which organises the judging and administration of the sport at
the Olympics, admitted that an Azeri national paid $9m to WSB to
invest in its American franchises. But lawyers for Aiba told the BBC
the allegation that medals were bought was "preposterous and utterly
untrue".
World Series Boxing was launched in a blaze of publicity last year but
had been rumoured to be struggling financially.
The BBC claims to have emails showing the investment agreement was
presented to Azerbaijan government officials and asked for the money
to be paid to the WSB American operations. Aiba said the money was
from an unnamed investor but was routed through the government.
The BBC said whistleblowers claimed the money was promised in return
for two gold medals by WSB chief operating officer Ivan Khodabakhsh.
He said: "First of all no comment, second of all, it's an absolute lie."
Aiba president Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, who has repeatedly claimed that he has
ushered in a new transparent era for boxing, said the claims were
"totally untrue", "ludicrous" and "totally impossible".
But he said Aiba had a "zero tolerance" policy to corruption and would
launch an immediate investigation.
"I want you to know ... how much effort I put in to clean the house.
Four vice-presidents, a secretary general, six [members of the]
executive committee, all expelled because of wrongdoing." Wu told
Newsnight. "Any corruption or manipulation is totally unacceptable. We
have been cleaning the house for the last four years. I can guarantee
you Aiba, like the other international federations, is fighting
corruption."
But he added: "If something happened, we will definitely investigate.
If this is a true story we will immediately fire Ivan. There is no way
we can accept it."
The International Olympic Committee, whose president Jacques Rogge has
been vocal on the fight against corruption in sport, urged the BBC to
hand over any relevant evidence.
"We welcome Aiba's announcement of an immediate inquiry into these
claims and we await the outcome of their investigation. For its part,
the IOC takes all allegations of corruption very seriously."
"We would urge the BBC to make any evidence they have available to
AIBA and to our ethics commission which will then determine if further
action is necessary."
Aiba and WSB said in a statement they believed the allegations had
been "made by individuals with an axe to grind, who are totally
discredited". They added: "As well as unjustifiably imputing
corruption to AIBA/WSB, they demonstrate a complete misunderstanding
of the procedures which lead to the award of Olympic boxing medals and
the impossibility of influencing these."
The allegations will put the judging in next summer's boxing
competition, for which all the tickets so far put on sale have sold
out, under the spotlight. Like other sports that rely on subjective
judging, Olympic boxing has previously faced allegations of one
fighter being unfairly favoured over another.
The most notorious incident related to Roy Jones' light-middleweight
final against South Korea's Park Si-Hun in Seoul in 1988.
Despite landing more than twice as many punches as his opponent, Jones
lost the verdict on a 3-2 split among the five judges. All three
judges who ruled in favour of the South Korean were subsequently
suspended.The IOC pointed out that changes had been made in recent
years to make the judging process more transparent.
"We would note that the judging process in boxing as in other sports
at the Games are transparent and open to public scrutiny, and a number
of sports including boxing have made significant changes to their
procedures in recent years to deal with any potential issues."