Having found an official English language Twitter handle for Putin’s ministry, he rattled off a bitter Tweet that appeared to suggest the politician may have had a hand in swaying the judges. “On Monday, Russian heavyweight Evgeny Tishchenko won the gold medal in a horrid decision over Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan”.
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Irish bantamweight Michael Conlan blasted Olympic boxing body AIBA as “corrupt” on Tuesday in an expletive-laden rant at the judging after losing to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin in the quarter-finals.
“AIBA is satisfied that we have improved significantly in our refereeing and judging but that we always know that there is room for improvement”, the organisation’s vice-president Tom Virgets told insidethegames yesterday.
“I came for gold and I’ve been cheated”, he said.
Those disputed decisions and a handful of less-prominent calls took attention from an otherwise entertaining Olympic tournament.
AIBA spokesman Nicolas Jomard would neither confirm nor deny that number.
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“The judging has been atrocious”, United States (and former Ireland) coach Billy Walsh said. They can emphasize whatever they want.
Given how much the sport of boxing has evolved, you would think that we’d be past this.
The judging was thrown into the spotlight this week when Irish and USA boxers protested they had been “robbed” in quarterfinal fights. I don’t give a f*** if I’m cursing on TV. “But the judges can’t be God”.
That system was replaced for Rio with a professional style 10 point format, with five judges ringside but the scores of only three counting after being chosen at random by a computer. Many boxers and coaches have embraced it, but not Walsh, the longtime Irish national coach.
Irish boxer Michael Conlan may be suffering from one of the most shocking decisions ever at the Olympics, but one fan is determined to cheer him up. “I haven’t seen it as bad since then”.
“When I went back to the corner after the first round I wasn’t even breathing heavy”. According to a report by the New York Times, the AIBA removed the judges and referees after a review of other Rio results showed questionable results.
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The scoring system was changed in 1989 to a computerized system, with judges pushing a button whenever a scoring punch was made.
