Olympics and Paralympics: Competitors in Female Categories

Lord Addington Excerpts

Tuesday 29th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I agree that it does not feel particularly helpful for your Lordships’ House to be debating a matter that is based on speculation rather than on fact. Ultimately, it is up to the international federations to determine the rules for their sports at the international level of competition. Olympic boxing was, in this instance, a matter for the IOC.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, this is a very odd one. The IOC twice passed both these athletes, once when they were not going to win medals and once when they did. The body that raised the sanction against them has been thrown out as the organising body for boxing. Will the Government back the IOC over a body that, on review, was found to have had years of financial mismanagement, rule-breaking within the ring, and bad training for its judges and officials? Surely we are going to go with the IOC on this one.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I do not believe I have said anything to suggest that we would go against the IOC on this one. In relation to the international governance of boxing, a new international federation, World Boxing, was established in 2022. It now has 42 member national federations, including England, Scotland, Wales and a number of others from our like-minded coalition on the sports issues relating to Russia and Belarus.