IOC sanctions three boxers for betting during Rio 2016

The International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday that Conlon, compatriot Steven Donnelly and Britain's Antony Fowler had been given severe reprimands for their breach of the regulations.

IOC sanctions three boxers for betting during Rio 2016

(Reuters)





They would also be obliged to follow and contribute to integrity educational programmes in order to be eligible for Tokyo 2020.

Conlon, who vowed in Rio never to fight again in any competition organised by Olympic boxing body AIBA after his quarter-final defeat by Russian Vladimir Nikitin, has since turned professional.

The IOC disciplinary commission said the 24-year-old had placed at least two bets on his own weight class, but not his own fights, on Aug. 8 and 9. All the bets, for relatively small amounts, were lost.

The athlete attended a hearing on Aug. 20 in Rio and confirmed the bets, saying he had signed without reading an Irish team contract that mentioned the prohibition on betting on Olympic competitions.

Conlon, a 2012 flyweight bronze medallist, added that he had been bored in the Athletes' Village and placed bets to pass the time.

Fowler lost his opening middleweight bout in Rio while Donnelly was knocked out in the welterweight quarter-finals.

The IOC said Donnelly had placed eight cumulative bets, two of them backing his Mongolian opponent Tuvshinbat Byamba to win. Donnelly, however, won the bout and lost his money.

Donnelly, who also failed to read the relevant documents, explained that he had not intended to cheat but had bet on his opponent to give himself some compensation should he have lost the fight.

Fowler said he was aware of the prohibition on betting but had thought it meant he could not bet on himself and people he knew.





(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London and Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)


Share
Published 29 September 2016 12:08am
Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world