Boxing at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Venue	Riocentro – Pavilion 6
Dates	6–21 August 2016
No. of events	13
Competitors	286 from 76 nations

Boxing at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Qualification
	Men	Women
	49 kg	51 kg
	52 kg	60 kg
	56 kg	75 kg
	60 kg
	64 kg
	69 kg
	75 kg
	81 kg
	91 kg
	+91 kg

The boxing tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 21 August 2016 at the Pavilion 6 of Riocentro.^[1] However, boxing at the games was overshadowed with controversy after there were doubts raised that results in certain bouts had been manipulated. These concerns were upheld in a report published in 2021.

Competition format

On March 23, 2013, the Amateur International Boxing Association instituted significant changes to the format. The World Series of Boxing, AIBA's pro team league which started in 2010, already enabled team members to retain 2012 Olympic eligibility. The newer AIBA Pro Boxing Tournament, consisting of pros who sign 5 year contracts with AIBA and compete on pro cards leading up to the tournament, also provides a pathway for new pros to retain their Olympic eligibility and retain ties with national committees. The elimination of headgear for male boxers and the adoption of the "10-point must" scoring system further clears the delineation between amateur and pro format.^[2][3]

Similar to 2012 format, men competed in the following ten events:

• Light flyweight (49kg)
• Flyweight (52kg)
• Bantamweight (56kg)
• Lightweight (60kg)
• Light welterweight (64kg)
• Welterweight (69kg)
• Middleweight (75kg)
• Light heavyweight (81kg)
• Heavyweight (91kg)
• Super heavyweight (+91kg)

As for the women, they were eligible to compete in the following three events:

• Flyweight (51kg)
• Lightweight (60kg)
• Middleweight (75kg)

Qualifying criteria

Each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to one athlete in each event. Six places (five men and one woman) were reserved for the host nation Brazil, while the remaining places were allocated to the Tripartite Invitation Commission. Because non-AIBA professional boxers were eligible to compete for the first time at the Olympics, a total of thirty-seven places had been reserved and thereby distributed to pros; twenty were qualified through the AIBA Pro Boxing Series with two for each event, while seventeen through the World Series of Boxing. Each continent had a quota of places to be filled through the two amateur and semi-pro league tournaments.^[4]

Qualification events were:

• 2014–2015 World Series of Boxing (WSB) – The two top ranked boxers at the end of the 2014–2015 season in each weight category (except light flyweight, heavyweight, and super heavyweight with one each).^[4]
• 2014–2015 AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) World Ranking – The champion and world-ranked top challenger in each weight category of the APB World Ranking at the end of the first cycle in September 2015.^[4]
• 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships – Doha, Qatar, 5–18 October – The top three boxers from five weight categories (bantamweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, and middleweight), the gold and silver medalists from three divisions (light flyweight, flyweight, and light heavyweight), and the champions in two heaviest classes (heavyweight and super heavyweight).^[4]
• 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships – Astana, Kazakhstan – The top four boxers in each weight category.^[4]
• 2016 APB and WSB Olympic Qualifier – The top three of the remaining boxers in each of the eight categories, and the champion in two heaviest classes.^[4]
• 2016 AIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament
• 2016 AIBA Continental Olympic Qualifiers (both men and women)

Competition schedule

There were two sessions of competition on most days of the 2016 Olympics Boxing program, an afternoon session (A), starting at 11:00 BRT, and an evening session (E), starting at 17:00 BRT. Starting on August 17, days contained only one session, beginning at 14:00 BRT.

Participation

Medalists

Men

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light flyweight	Hasanboy Dusmatov  Uzbekistan	Yuberjen Martínez  Colombia	Joahnys Argilagos  Cuba
			Nico Hernández  United States
Flyweight[a]	Shakhobidin Zoirov  Uzbekistan	Yoel Finol  Venezuela	Hu Jianguan  China
			Ceiber Ávila  Colombia
Bantamweight	Robeisy Ramírez  Cuba	Shakur Stevenson  United States	Vladimir Nikitin  Russia
			Murodjon Akhmadaliev  Uzbekistan
Lightweight	Robson Conceição  Brazil	Sofiane Oumiha  France	Lázaro Álvarez  Cuba
			Dorjnyambuugiin Otgondalai  Mongolia
Light welterweight	Fazliddin Gaibnazarov  Uzbekistan	Lorenzo Sotomayor  Azerbaijan	Vitaly Dunaytsev  Russia
			Artem Harutyunyan  Germany
Welterweight	Daniyar Yeleussinov  Kazakhstan	Shakhram Giyasov  Uzbekistan	Mohammed Rabii  Morocco
			Souleymane Cissokho  France
Middleweight	Arlen López  Cuba	Bektemir Melikuziev  Uzbekistan	Misael Rodríguez  Mexico
			Kamran Shakhsuvarly  Azerbaijan
Light heavyweight	Julio César La Cruz  Cuba	Adilbek Niyazymbetov  Kazakhstan	Mathieu Bauderlique  France
			Joshua Buatsi  Great Britain
Heavyweight	Evgeny Tishchenko  Russia	Vasiliy Levit  Kazakhstan	Rustam Tulaganov  Uzbekistan
			Erislandy Savón  Cuba
Super heavyweight	Tony Yoka  France	Joe Joyce  Great Britain	Filip Hrgović  Croatia
			Ivan Dychko  Kazakhstan

^{Men's flyweight} Misha Aloian of  Russia originally won the silver medal, but was disqualified after he tested positive for Tuaminoheptane.^[5]

Women

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Flyweight	Nicola Adams  Great Britain	Sarah Ourahmoune  France	Ren Cancan  China
			Ingrit Valencia  Colombia
Lightweight	Estelle Mossely  France	Yin Junhua  China	Mira Potkonen  Finland
			Anastasia Belyakova  Russia
Middleweight	Claressa Shields  United States	Nouchka Fontijn  Netherlands	Dariga Shakimova  Kazakhstan
			Li Qian  China

Medal summary

Medal table

  *   Host nation (Brazil)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Uzbekistan	3	2	2	7
2	Cuba	3	0	3	6
3	France	2	2	2	6
4	Kazakhstan	1	2	2	5
5	Great Britain	1	1	1	3
	United States	1	1	1	3
7	Russia	1	0	3	4
8	Brazil*	1	0	0	1
9	China	0	1	3	4
10	Colombia	0	1	2	3
11	Azerbaijan	0	1	1	2
12	Netherlands	0	1	0	1
	Venezuela	0	1	0	1
14	Croatia	0	0	1	1
	Finland	0	0	1	1
	Germany	0	0	1	1
	Mexico	0	0	1	1
	Mongolia	0	0	1	1
	Morocco	0	0	1	1
Totals (19 entries)		13	13	26	52

Manipulated scorecards

A report published in 2021 into the judging at the Rio Olympics found that there were systemic attempts to change the outcome of certain bouts. It also found that the methods that were employed to exploit results had begun in the Olympic qualifying rounds.^[6] The boxing at Rio Olympics had been mired in controversy since they took place in 2016, in particular two results attracted attention (both involving Russian athletes being awarded dubious victories)

• the defeat of Kazakh Vasily Levit by Russian Evgeny Tishchenko in the men's heavyweight gold-medal fight drew jeers from the audience,^[7]
• the defeat of Irish boxer Michael Conlan by Russian Vladimir Nikitin in the men's bantamweight quarter-final, after which Conlan accused AIBA and the Russian team of cheating, even tweeting to Russian President Vladimir Putin "Hey Vlad, How much did they charge you bro??" ^[8][9]

The AIBA would remove an unspecified number of judges and referees following the controversy, stating that they "determined that less than a handful of the decisions were not at the level expected" and "that the concerned referees and judges will no longer officiate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games"; however, the original decision would still remain.^[10][11] Results were manipulated using a new judging system employed at Rio. Traditionally, judges would use a computer scoring system to count each punch landed but in 2016 the winner of each round was awarded 10 points and the loser a lower number, based on criteria which includes the quality of punches landed, effective aggression and tactical superiority. The new computer system took the scores of the five judges who judged the bout and supposedly a computer would randomly select three scores from those counted.^[8]

In 2019 the IOC stripped the AIBA of the right to organise the tournament at the 2020 Olympics, due to "issues in the areas of finance, governance, ethics and refereeing and judging".^[12]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boxing at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

• "Boxing at the 2016 Summer Olympics (Rio2016.com)". Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• Boxing at the 2016 Summer Olympics at SR/Olympics (archived)
• NBC Olympics: Boxing
• Results Book – Boxing