The International Boxing Association (IBA) has accused the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of “lack of transparency” and “unlawful” conduct and raised questions on its “transparency ideas” while inviting boxing officials for the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification process.
The IBA has threatened to take IOC to court for redressal of the issue.
In an open letter to IOC president Thomas Bach ahead of the global sports body’s executive board meeting on Tuesday, IBA has said its competition officials were being approached by IOC “without prior approval or communication to IBA”, which is a breach of the information switch settlement signed between the 2 events in 2019.
At the basis of the issue is the ban imposed by IOC on the boxing physique resulting from considerations round its governance, monetary transparency, sustainability and the integrity of refereeing and judging course of.
The IOC has knowledgeable IBA that it might conduct boxing qualification occasions main as much as the Paris Olympics, the identical manner it had carried out earlier than of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Despite the IOC’s directions, the boxing physique declared that the IBA-run ladies’s World Championships in New Delhi, which concluded on Sunday, could be the primary qualification occasion for 2024 Paris.
On Monday, IBA wrote to IOC, saying, “…sharing the IBA’s deep considerations concerning fundamental IOC governance, impartiality, and transparency ideas seen throughout the monitoring course of forward of Paris 2024 which can mark the one hundred and twentieth anniversary of boxing’s participation the Olympic Games.
“At the guts of the IBA’s governance considerations is the safety of private and confidential knowledge of its IBA Competition Officials underneath GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) legislation. This was first delivered to the IBA’s consideration when it was confirmed that the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit, contacted IBA Competition Officials inviting them to behave as volunteer Officials for the Paris 2024 Qualification Competition and the Boxing Tournament.
“This was carried out with out prior approval or communication to IBA, with whom the Competition Officials are licensed and confirmed a scarcity of fundamental communication that demonstrates as soon as once more the dearth of transparency and cooperation with the IBA from the respective IOC workers. This motion is in breach of the Data Transfer Agreement signed on 15/26 November 2019 between IBA and IOC.”
IBA said the IOC could not keep the boxing officials’ data beyond a stipulated period as agreed upon by the two parties, and, in this case, should have been destroyed after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Referring to clause 4.1b, IBA emphasised, “The Transferred Personal Data (contact details) will not be kept for longer than necessary for the Agreed Purposes (boxing qualification competitions and events for Tokyo 2020 as well as the boxing Tournament at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (collectively the ‘Boxing Competitions’) and will be completely and irreversibly destroyed after the fulfilment.
“Considering that the IBA has not shared any Competition Officials’ contact details with the IOC after Tokyo 2020, it is clear that either the IOC has obtained these contacts unlawfully or has breached the Agreement. With the latter being more serious considering that the IBA Head Office received numerous complaints from our Competition Officials about this unsolicited communication from the IOC.”
IBA stated it’s apprehensive how the IOC obtained the information, including that it undermines the boxing physique’s “funding in a high-quality course of” to select officials.
“The IBA is truly concerned about the source from which the IOC has obtained these contact details and regarding this, namely integrity, transparency, lack of continuous professional development, skill fade, and GDPR as the starting point.
“The process that the IOC has applied does not meet the high standard of selection criterions that IBA have been striving towards in the past two years. The way the IOC process has been rolled out, completely undermines the IBA’s investment in a high-quality process for our officials, and the actions of the IOC demonstrates a lack of common decency and cooperation to communicate the IOC,” intentions by way of the respective appointed personnel inside IBA.”
The IBA said it reserves the right to take IOC to court.
“The IBA therefore will reserve all rights to seek redress before the competent court against IOC to request damages for breach of the Agreement, illegitimate use of our intellectual property and breach of the GDPR amongst other breaches in which the IOC has committed.”
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