AIBA President’s first statement to international media
November 4th, 2018 / IBA
The AIBA President, Gafur Rahimov addressed the international media in a press conference immediately following the election on November 3rd. In his address he warmly thanked the AIBA family for their trust and spoke about the future of AIBA focusing on plans for AIBA itself as an organization and the future of AIBA in the Olympics – in particular extending an olive branch to the Olympic Movement in the name of Olympism.
The full statement can be read here:
“Let me start by saying how honored I am to have been elected today as the President of AIBA. I want thank the AIBA family for their trust and for allowing me to continue leading this great organization.
This has been a great day for AIBA!
And it only makes the day better that our members were able to make their choice in a truly democratic process. So I would like to thank the AIBA Staff and the Election Committee for their hard work in ensuring that this process was well run. I would also like to congratulate all my new Vice-Presidents and Executive Committee members, we have a strong team that is ready to work hard these next four years.
Today has also given the entire Boxing world a boost of positive energy to work even harder for the development of our sport worldwide.
This is something that we needed, as it is no secret that we have been battling with challenges on many fronts. And we are still facing certain pressures.
But from today, we are more confident and more determined than ever to bringing our sport back to where it deserves to be.
I mentioned earlier that there are two points that we need to focus on: The future of AIBA in the Olympics and the Future of AIBA as an organization.
As an organisation, we at AIBA have made huge progress. We moved forward in our transparency, our governance, our statutes, our refereeing & judging rules, our anti-doping and our finance procedures. I am proud to say that we are compliant across the board.
But we don’t want to stop there, we want to be better. We want to be a model organization, and we are well on our way to making this happen.
When it comes to the future of AIBA in the Olympics, let me conclude by addressing our friends in the Olympic Movement.
We have heard you, we have been listening to you and we have been learning a lot from you.
We are committed to continue improving in any area you feel we should improve.
I hope that you also view the outcome of the last two days as a confirmation of our commitment to the Olympic Movement and the Olympic values.”
So, on behalf of the boxers of the world, we are extending to you an olive branch in the name of Olympism. AIBA and the Olympics belong together.
Thank you.
