Irish Olympic boxer Michael Conlan said what many have been thinking for a while now after losing a robbery of a decision to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin in the 56k quarter-finals. “AIBA are cheats,” he told a reporter in disgust on the way back to the locker room. “F**king cheats. As simple as that.”
Winning the fight would have guaranteed Conlan a bronze medal and moved him forward to face USA’s Shakur Stevenson in the semi-finals for a shot at gold. Instead he leaves empty handed, and very unhappy with the way the governing body for amateur and Olympic boxing is run.
https://twitter.com/FintanOToolbox/status/765564700411195392
“That’s me, I’ll never box for AIBA again. They’re cheating bastards, they’re paying everybody,” he continued. “I don’t give a f**k if I’m cursing on tv. I was here to win Olympic gold. My dream’s been shattered now. You know what, I’ve a big career ahead of me. And these ones, they’re known for being cheats and they’ll always be cheats. Amateur boxing stinks. From the core right to the top.”
“It’s a shambles to be honest. I’m gutted, from the bottom of my heart. I wanted to go back with a gold medal to Ireland. Now I feel I’m going back a loser. I’m not a loser, I’m a winner. Today just showed how corrupt this organisation is.”
This isn’t the only example of terrible judging that has fans of boxing and casual Olympics viewers alike wondering what’s going on. The 91k gold medal match between Russia’s Evgeny Tishchenko and Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit had the crowd booing after each round was awarded to Tishchenko. Media outlets around the world weren’t shy declaring it a farce.
There’s been a lot of attention paid to the robberies going on in the streets of Rio. Hopefully some more people end up talking about the ones that have been happening in the ring.