IOC bans all Rio boxing officials from 2020 Olympics in Tokyo

The International Olympic Committee has determined that all boxing officials, referees and judges alike, involved with officiating the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janiero will not be allowed to participate in the upcoming 2020 Tokyo games.

A total of 36 judges and referees were suspended after those 2016 games while the International Boxing Association investigated allegations that the fights were fixed. AIBA ultimately concluded that they didn’t find any interference with the official results of fights — some of which were highly questionable — and recommended that each official be allowed to be reinstated on a case-by-case basis.

IOC’s taskforce doesn’t seem to want touch any of those individuals, however, ruling them all ineligible for the Tokyo games.

“The main objective of the IOC boxing task force is to ensure the completion of the mission of delivering events, while putting the boxers first, and with transparent and credible sporting results and fair play,” boxing task force chair Morinari Watanabe said.

Now, in an effort to provide more transparency, all judges and referees will be selected from a pool of AIBA-certified officials who will then be reviewed to ensure that they meeting the selection criteria. The full selection process will be conducted under independent supervision, according to the IOC.

And finally, the IOC announced that judges scores will be publicly displayed at the end of each round during the Olympics qualifying competitions and the Olympic games themselves. That, I’m sure, will be at least one welcomed addition.