The boxing tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 21 August 2016 at the Pavilion 6 of Riocentro.[1] However, boxing at the games was overshadowed with controversy after there were doubts raised that results in certain bouts had been manipulated. These concerns were upheld in a report published in 2021.
Competition format
On March 23, 2013, the Amateur International Boxing Association instituted significant changes to the format. The World Series of Boxing, AIBA's pro team league which started in 2010, already enabled team members to retain 2012 Olympic eligibility. The newer AIBA Pro Boxing Tournament, consisting of pros who sign 5 year contracts with AIBA and compete on pro cards leading up to the tournament, also provides a pathway for new pros to retain their Olympic eligibility and retain ties with national committees. The elimination of headgear for male boxers and the adoption of the "10-point must" scoring system further clears the delineation between amateur and pro format.[2][3]
Similar to 2012 format, men competed in the following ten events:
Each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to one athlete in each event. Six places (five men and one woman) were reserved for the host nation Brazil, while the remaining places were allocated to the Tripartite Invitation Commission. Because non-AIBA professional boxers were eligible to compete for the first time at the Olympics, a total of thirty-seven places had been reserved and thereby distributed to pros; twenty were qualified through the AIBA Pro Boxing Series with two for each event, while seventeen through the World Series of Boxing. Each continent had a quota of places to be filled through the two amateur and semi-pro league tournaments.[4]
Qualification events were:
2014–2015 World Series of Boxing (WSB) – The two top ranked boxers at the end of the 2014–2015 season in each weight category (except light flyweight, heavyweight, and super heavyweight with one each).[4]
2014–2015 AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) World Ranking – The champion and world-ranked top challenger in each weight category of the APB World Ranking at the end of the first cycle in September 2015.[4]
2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships – Doha, Qatar, 5–18 October – The top three boxers from five weight categories (bantamweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, and middleweight), the gold and silver medalists from three divisions (light flyweight, flyweight, and light heavyweight), and the champions in two heaviest classes (heavyweight and super heavyweight).[4]
2016 APB and WSB Olympic Qualifier – The top three of the remaining boxers in each of the eight categories, and the champion in two heaviest classes.[4]
2016 AIBA Continental Olympic Qualifiers (both men and women)
Competition schedule
There were two sessions of competition on most days of the 2016 Olympics Boxing program, an afternoon session (A), starting at 11:00 BRT, and an evening session (E), starting at 17:00 BRT. Starting on August 17, days contained only one session, beginning at 14:00 BRT.
A report published in 2021 into the judging at the Rio Olympics found that there were systemic attempts to change the outcome of certain bouts. It also found that the methods that were employed to exploit results had begun in the Olympic qualifying rounds.[6] The boxing at Rio Olympics had been mired in controversy since they took place in 2016, in particular two results attracted attention (both involving Russian athletes being awarded dubious victories)
The AIBA would remove an unspecified number of judges and referees following the controversy, stating that they "determined that less than a handful of the decisions were not at the level expected" and "that the concerned referees and judges will no longer officiate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games"; however, the original decision would still remain.[10][11] Results were manipulated using a new judging system employed at Rio. Traditionally, judges would use a computer scoring system to count each punch landed but in 2016 the winner of each round was awarded 10 points and the loser a lower number, based on criteria which includes the quality of punches landed, effective aggression and tactical superiority. The new computer system took the scores of the five judges who judged the bout and supposedly a computer would randomly select three scores from those counted.[8]
In 2019 the IOC stripped the AIBA of the right to organise the tournament at the 2020 Olympics, due to "issues in the areas of finance, governance, ethics and refereeing and judging".[12]
