IBA President Umar Kremlev Will Pay LA Olympic Athletes if IOC Policy Doesn’t Change

IBA president Umar Kremlev said the organization will award prize money to Olympic boxers at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. This is contingent on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not changing its policy on athlete compensation.

"The Olympic Games have long ceased to be about sport,” Kremlev said in an IBA press release announcing the new policy, “There is too much politics and too little respect for those who spend years sweating in the gym. Today, it is not athletes who stand on the IOC’s podium, but politics, personal agendas, and behind- the-scenes games. The athletes themselves are left without fair compensation for their hard work and without confidence in their future.”

The 2028 Summer Olympics will generate billions in revenue. Broadcasting rights in the United States alone are expected to generate $7.7 billion, in line with an agreement already from 2021 to 2032.

Imane Khelif | Andrew P. Scott-Imagn Images

Mr. Kremlev pursued a similar policy at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games two years ago. In a press release regarding the upcoming Olympics, the IBA mentioned Swedish biathletes Elvira Öberg and Sebastian Samuelsson, two Olympians who have criticized the IOC’s strict sponsorship limits.

The controversy relates to Rule 40, which restricts how Olympic athletes can appear in advertising during the Games. Rule 40 prevents Olympians from using their name or performance to promote non-Olympic sponsors during a “blackout period” around the Olympic Games in which they compete.

Following the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, the IBA distributed more than $3 million to boxers who reached the quarterfinals.

Each Gold medallist received $100,000, with $50,000 awarded to the athlete, $25,000 to the coach, and $25,000 to the respective boxer’s National Federation. Silver medallists received $50,000 and bronze medallists $25,000. Meanwhile, boxers finishing fifth received $10,000 for their efforts.

The IOC took the unprecedented step of formally expelling the IBA in 2023 in a dispute over governance and funding. The IBA was founded in 1946 and has long worked with the IOC. The IOC is instead backing a rival organization, World Boxing, as its partner for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games.

Manny Pacquiao | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Both organizations have former world champions at their highest levels. While former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin heads World Boxing, other boxing celebrities are associated with the IBA, including former eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao, who serves as a vice president.