Boxing Road to Tokyo 2020: Qualification Events announced

The Olympic Boxing Task Force today confirmed the names of the cities to host the five Qualification Events to be held on the Boxing Road to Tokyo 2020. The Task Force also announced the creation of an Athlete Ambassador Group, as well as the collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers on the refereeing and judging process.

Qualification Events

Four Continental Events and a final World Qualification Event will be held between February and May 2020 to give boxers the opportunity to seal their places at the Tokyo 2020 boxing tournament.

The World Qualification Event will give athletes a second chance to qualify and will therefore be open only to those boxers who have not yet qualified for the Games.

“The Qualification Events represent a fair and transparent pathway to the Olympic Games with equal opportunities for all National Olympic Committees,” said Boxing Task Force Chair and IOC Member Mr Morinari Watanabe. “Everything is being done to provide world-class Qualification Events and to ensure the best possible conditions for the athletes.”

The qualifying schedule features a strong emphasis on legacy, with all five events hosted by former or future Olympic Games or Youth Olympic Games host cities or countries. 

The five Qualification Events together with planned dates are as follows:

Asia/Oceania: WUHAN, China, 3-14 February 2020

Africa: DAKAR, Senegal, 20-29 February 2020
Venue: Dakar International Expo Centre, Diamniadio

Europe: LONDON, Great Britain, 13-23 March 2020
Venue: Copper Box arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

America: BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, 26 March-3 April 2020
Venue: CeNARD high-performance athletics training centre

World: PARIS, France, 13-24 May 2020

The competition venues in Wuhan and Paris will be finalised and confirmed in due course.

The full Tokyo 2020 Event Programme and Qualification System for boxing was finalised and published in June 2019. An updated version can be found here.

While the total number of athletes (286) has been maintained from Rio 2016, the number of female boxers has been tripled for Tokyo 2020 in a major boost toward gender equality and in keeping with the enhanced quality and popularity of female boxing. The Tokyo tournament will feature 186 men and 100 women (compared to 250 men and 36 women in Rio). 

Athlete Ambassador Programme

The Task Force also announced the creation of an Athlete Ambassador Group to engage with and represent boxers. This group will provide valuable athlete input and feedback to the Task Force and promote the athlete voice and representation in boxing, for Tokyo 2020 and beyond.

The Athlete Ambassadors will comprise 10 boxers, one man and one woman from each of the five regions, providing gender equality and global representation. The 10 will be selected from among nominations received from National Olympic Committees and National Federations by 30 September. They will be joined by additional athletes elected by their peers at each of the four continental events.   

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to oversee refereeing and judging process

To ensure the successful delivery of the Olympic Qualification Events and the Olympic competition itself, the Olympic Boxing Task Force is currently finalising the appointment of PwC to independently review the process for selecting and evaluating boxing referees and judges.

The assessment will be carried out prior to, and during, the five Olympic Qualification Events and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

The Olympic Boxing Task Force decided to build on the successful delivery at the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018, where the partnership with PwC helped ensure the credibility of refereeing and judging processes.

Background information

The creation of the Olympic Boxing Task Force by the IOC Executive Board (EB) followed the recommendation by the IOC EB on 22 May – approved by the IOC Session on 26 June – that boxing keep its place on the Tokyo 2020 programme, but that recognition of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) by the IOC should be suspended and evaluated after Tokyo 2020.

The decision was based on the recommendations of the Inquiry Committee set up by the IOC EB on 30 November 2018 over concerns about AIBA in the areas of finance, governance, ethics and refereeing and judging.

The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit independent international organisation made up of volunteers, which is committed to building a better world through sport. It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, which means that every day the equivalent of 3.4 million US dollars goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.

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