The International Olympic Committee (IOC) shows the Nordic combined athletes and boxers their teeth: According to the decisions of the executive on Friday, the original winter discipline of ski jumping and cross-country skiing is counted - its continued existence in the Olympic program is in question.

The world federation of pugilists has been declared a technical knockout for the second time, and the decision on the place of the sport in the Olympic program beyond 2024 is still pending.

Evi Simeoni

sports editor.

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The reasons why the winter sport discipline and the summer sport have fallen out of favor so dramatically are different: Nordic combined athletes have failed to adapt to the modern demands of the Olympia.

They have too few participating nations and, according to the IOC, aroused “by far the least spectator interest” at the most recent winter games in Beijing in February.

The World Association of Boxers, on the other hand, gives such a catastrophic picture that "in the interests of the athletes and the boxing community" the organization of the Olympic tournament including qualification was withdrawn for the second time: The IOC will also take on the task itself at the 2024 Games in Paris In the hand.

Inclusion of women's competitions applied for

Bad news for Eric Frenzel, Vinzenz Geiger and the other European Nordic Combined stars.

The World Ski Association FIS had actually applied to the IOC for the upcoming 2026 Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo for the second time for the inclusion of women's competitions in this discipline - the combined skiers are the last winter sport in the program that is reserved for men alone.

The fact that the IOC, contrary to its own trend – gender equality is a central goal – did not comply with this request shows how serious the situation is.

The Austrian Karl Stoss, the chairman of the IOC program commission, said at a press conference that the men were only allowed into the program because the games were only three and a half years away and the athletes had been preparing for them for years.

The same does not apply to the women's division, although there is now a World Cup and a World Championship discipline for them.

But in 2021 in Oberstdorf only athletes from ten nations were at the start, all three medals were won by Norwegians.

In the Chamonix program since 1924

Whether there will still be Nordic combined athletes at the 2030 Winter Games depends on whether they make a “significant positive development”.

Stoss was referring to the fact that only four nations have won medals in Nordic Combined at the last three Winter Games.

"It is very interesting for European countries," he said.

"But you don't find any athletes outside of Europe."

Lasse Ottesen, race director for Nordic combined in the World Ski Federation, announced that the FIS is not giving up and will speak to the national federations to "create a concept and convince the IOC of the value and attractiveness of our discipline." The combined athletes belong part of the program since the first Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924.

With a view to boxing, IOC sports director Kit McConnell explained: "The IOC executive found enough is enough." As early as 2019, the IOC had the world association IBA responsible for Tokyo due to drastic irregularities, including in the judges' judgments at the 2016 Olympic tournament in Rio 2021 withdrawn – and with it the Olympic earnings.

Boxing also does not appear on the list of confirmed sports for the Los Angeles Games in six years time.

"Whether or not boxing will be part of the sports program of the 2028 Olympic Games will be discussed at a later date," the IOC said.

In any case, the IBA will not regain responsibility for Paris 2024 due to problems that the IOC describes as “persistent and very worrying”.

The reasons lie in the administration, in the refereeing, in the scoring system and in the financial area.

A statement also stated "financial dependence on the state-owned company Gazprom."

The Russian group is the main sponsor of the IBA.

President Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman, was re-elected on May 14.

Two days earlier, the IBU's Integrity Unit had excluded his only opponent, Dutchman Boris van der Vorst, from the election.

In the meantime, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, Cas, has declared this exclusion to be illegal.

McConnell made it clear that these events were the last straw in the eyes of the executive.

As a reaction, the IBA announced an extraordinary congress for the autumn, at which a decision will first be made as to whether a new presidential election is necessary and whether new elections should take place.

One was "deeply disappointed" by the decision of the IOC.