AIBA and their annus horribilis
In boxing, timing is essential. So it is with some surprise that AIBA and their press office in Lausanne seem to be having their annus horribilis with the media hounds circling their every move.
Notwithstanding the earlier report on an alleged loan/investment being linked to potential gold medals in London, AIBA have now had to issue a statement categorically denying that their proposed seeding system is anything other than custom and practice at the highest levels in a variety of sports.
This statement refutes entirely as malicious, the scurrilous innuendo and speculation being bandied about by the international press that the introduction of seeding has any ulterior motive. The updated rules have been published on AIBA's website for several weeks. National Federations were informed of the rule change in an official communication from AIBA headquarters on 19 August 2011. The rule change was explained again in detail at the AIBA World Congress for Coaches (a fairly new development in itself as the old regime kept the coaches at arms length) held prior to the AIBA World Championships on 24 September 2011, and at the Official Draw.
The intent of introducing the seeding is to encourage nations to host such events thus broadening the appeal of the sport. The Technical and Rules Commission of AIBA who are behind this suggested change is chaired by Franco Falcinelli of Italy and Richard Thomas, the CEO of Amateur Boxing Scotland, also sits on it. Both these men I know to be scrupulous in the integrity stakes - so no ulterior motives there.
The practice of seeding does indeed take place in respect of host nations who hold other such tournaments. Taekwondo operates a similar system to AIBA's whereby eight of the host countries athletes are automatically seeded at the WTF World Taekwondo Championships. Automatic qualification is guaranteed to the host countries of the FIFA World Cup and the IRB Rugby World Cup, while Wimbledon operates a wild card system in order to enable British tennis players who have not qualified on merit to play there.
At the recent IAAF World Championships held in Daegu, South Korea, as host nation, was entitled to enter one athlete in each competition regardless of the entry standard. At UEFA Euro 2012, host nations Poland and Ukraine not only qualified automatically but have been seeded 1 and 2 despite their respective European rankings of 34 and 32.
There is nothing untoward with a seeding system per se; however, coming on top of the year-long investigation by BBC's Newsnight into the loans for medals allegations, it appears from the timing of the announcement of the seeding process that the press office and AIBA have shot themselves in the foot with accuracy that in boxing terms would be “clean scoring shots” that even a one-eyed judge wearing an eye patch couldn't fail to register the scoring on his/her computer.
