Ireland Olympic future secure as IABA joins World Boxing

Team Ireland's future participation in the Olympic Games has been secured following news that the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) has formally joined World Boxing.

The IABA, the governing body of amateur boxing in Ireland, had a long-time affiliation with the International Boxing Association (IBA), but at a vote in April IABA member clubs overwhelmingly voted in favour of change.

At an extraordinary general meeting in April 116 out of the 117 clubs represented voted for constitutional reform which paved the way for international federation dual membership with the IBA and World Boxing.

The development came after the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) executive board recommended the inclusion of boxing in the Los Angeles 2028 summer Olympics programme, having already provisionally granted recognition to World Boxing.

The IOC ran the boxing competition at the Paris 2024 Games after it had stripped the IBA of recognition in 2023 over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance.

The IABA's application to join World Boxing has now been approved and Ireland is one of 17 national federations to join the organisation, taking the total membership to 106 countries.

Boxing was not part of the programme for LA 2028 when the schedule was first announced in 2022, the IOC having encouraged the sport's national federations to form a new global body.

The IOC said only athletes whose national federations were members of World Boxing by the time of the start of the qualification events for the 2028 Olympics could take part in Los Angeles.

Chair of IABA's board of directors, Niall O'Carroll, described the development as "a watershed moment for Irish boxing".

"Every kid in every boxing club in the Association deserves the Olympic dream – and their clubs have made sure that dream can live on, to LA 2028 and beyond," he said.

"Irish Boxing has always valued our Olympic journey – from our first team of nine boxers at Paris 1924, to winning 19 medals over the last 100 years and maintaining our standing as Team Ireland's most successful Olympic sport.

"Kellie [Harrington, double Olympic gold medallist Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024], Katie [Taylor, London 2012 champion] and Michael [Carruth, Barcelona 1992, Ireland's 1st boxing gold medallist], are 'the best of us", but we have more Olympic podiums to climb, and more medals to win.

"Our joining of World Boxing today ensures that."