Olympic wildcard invitees

[mike222]

In the event that the IOC is not able to fill these spots with suitable applicants under the Triparte rules these boxers are the highest ranked who may be selected by the AIBA to fill the quotas
MEN
49 Joselito Velasquez Mexico
52 Eddy Valuenza Guatemala
60 Charlie Suarez Phillipines
64 Dmitri Galagot Moldova
69 Jung Won Kin Korea
81 Callum Smith England
91 Chedli Jemi Tunisia
+91Charles Okoth Kenya
WOMEN
51 Stoyka Petrova Bulgaria
Erica Matos Brazil
Hye Song Kim North Kores
60 Michaela Lacatus Romania
Dong Cheng China
Kehinde Obareh Kenya
Queen Underwood United States
75 Anna Laurell Sweden
Marina Volnova Kazakhstan
Mary Spencer United States
Elizabeth Odhiambo Kenya
They are in effect first reserves or alternates
Of course the IOC may be able to fill these quotas

[Dennis]

Mike - Although Mary Spencer is an excellent boxer and I wouldn't mind if she resided in the USA, I wanted to let you know that she is actually from Canada.

[moorser]

Were did you get Callum Smith from Mike,if it goes to the highest ranked boxer it goes to Joe Ward .

[donnellon]

ALSO TATAR AT 60 WOMENS?

[mike222]

The document states the highest ranked boxer at the qualifier.As Callum Smith was the only semi-finallist not to qualify direct he is the highest ranked boxer.
It does not mean AIBA rankings it means where you finished in the qualifier.
IE 1 Muzzafer
2 Huseynli
3 Dauhaliavets
4 Smith
5 Grisunins
6 Bouhenia
7 Hukkanen
8 Szello
9 Ward
10 Milipitopoulus
For the Women
1 Taylor
2 Ochigava
3 Chorayeva
4 Jonas
5 Lacatus
6 Araujo
7 Mosselly
8 Egner
Tatar is well down the list
I read in the Liverpool Echo that Callum Smith has been told he may make it.

[donnellon]

Interesting, hope your wrong!

[mike222]

I think I may be wrong-these are the relevant extracts from the document on the AIBA website
F If for any reason an NOC decides not to use a quota place during the AIBA world championships the place will be allocated to the best ranked NOC from the same continent(based on the results of the continental Olympic Qualifying event)
Any unused places within the reserved quota of places will be reallocated by the Triparite Commision.Should the Tripartite Commission not be able to assign the places,the quota places will be allocated to the next best ranked athlete at the 2011 AIBA Mens World boxing championship,not yet qualified
The document is titled QUALIFICATION SYSTEM-GAMES OF THE XXX OLYMPIAD
I am going to lie down-my brain hurts

[donnellon]

Mike I have read and re-read it and simply it is ambiguous, I have read it both ways and it makes sense either way.

When specifically talking about places coming back from the Tripartite commission unused it states;

"Any unused places within the reserved quota of places will be reallocated by the Tripartite Commission.
Should the Tripartite Commission not be able to assign the places, the quota place will be allocated to the next best ranked athlete at the 2011 AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championship, not yet qualied."

[emile]

I think the meaning of 'quota places' are the places earned through competitions. I believe that excerpt is just saying how they will replace already-qualified athletes who drop out between now and the games. Which is no different than how they did it in the last two Olympics. First go to next best finisher at qualifier and then to Tripartite.

I don't see any reason that the Tripartite Committee wouldn't be able to fill all of their allocated places. How they will do it is of course still anyone's guess, but I still think it will adhere at least somewhat to the Committee's overall goal of increasing participation.

[donnellon]

No Emile, there are 8 places to be allocated separate from the qualifiers and additional to them.The Tripartite committee have a brief to offer them to a nation (NOC) WITH AN AVERAGE OF LESS THAN 6 BOXERS AT THE LAST TWO GAMES, IF nobody matches this criteria then the place reverts to the AIBA-at least that's how I understand it.
That's where the "highest ranked" fighter at the regional championships comes in.

[emile]

I'm aware of the allocation spots. I already had a ? with someone else about the '6 boxers' rule, the Tripartite Commission language fairly clearly reads to me that it is 6 total athletes or less not boxers, which fit what happened in 2004 (Iraq and Afghanistan) and 2008 (IIRC, Grenada and Swaziland). With so many Tripartite places this year, my interpretation of the rule cannot be followed.

But I don't think anybody really knows what's going on, certainly me included. There is nothing to do but wait and see what they do and wish that they hadn't made the qualifying process so strange this time.

[donnellon]

Yes Emile, I agree you are correct, it is not boxers but all Olympic competitors. Mea culpa!

[mike222]

I Know Indonesia are expecting to receive a wildcard place.

[ogii3]

Here is explained everything
http://www.ittf.com/World_Events/2012OG ... ations.pdf

The most important part

Places that cannot be allocated to eligible NOCs will be returned to the concerned IF which
will be responsible for their redistribution according to the principles defined in each
qualification system.

[Zelley]

I think AIBA and the various decision makers need to tell us the names of the wild cards, let's not drag this out. They have all of the past results and performances, so the debate and discussion or political considerations should be over. Let's get to the nitty gritty and get on with it.

[emile]

Thanks ogii, although I don't think that this clears it up. I think the fundamental question is whether or not Tripartite boxing places will be held to the '6 athlete rule'. If so, then one would expect a large number of spots returned to AIBA to be disbursed. The language seems clear enough on this I guess, but it leaves the question to me - why are there so many Tripartite places this time? If you know they aren't going to be filled, than why didn't AIBA just give out these places at the World Championships to begin with? Does anyone know how the number of places was determined?

Will Andorra and San Marino make a run at the European spots?

Here is explained everything
http://www.ittf.com/World_Events/2012OG ... ations.pdf

The most important part

Places that cannot be allocated to eligible NOCs will be returned to the concerned IF which
will be responsible for their redistribution according to the principles defined in each
qualification system.

[ogii3]

Emile,
The answer to your question is easy. 8 quotas for just 3 weight divisions in women boxing is really high. But this is the introduction of women boxing at olympics and they want to have more countries involved.
And there is a political sense. Because this is the way to win small federations. Give them a quota and they will support you in the next elections. A lot of small countries do not have the potential to qualify athletes via tournaments. But if they want to be funded by the government, they must have olympic representatives. So it's very precious for small federations to have an athlete there. And it's precious for AIBA bosses to have support of a lot of small federations. In the election the vote of Russia, Ukraine, Cuba or USA is equal to Irac, Botswana, Malta or Luxemburg. And when the IOC comission turns back a couple of quotas, then it's up to AIBA to decide who will get them. Be sure they will not be given to boxers, who are close to reach Olympics via qualifications, but to federations, who are in close relationship and are suportive to current AIBA rule. It's just politics.

[mike222]

Well written OGII,The AIBA has always been a political organisation and its decisions are not based on the interests of the boxers but a whole lot of other considerations.Becoming a member of the IOC is a strong motivation for a lot of people.
FIFA is an example of what sporting power is all about.

[emile]

Thanks for the response ogii - I agree with what you say about the need to keep smaller federations happy. On the other hand, what has changed to make the number of men's Tripartite spaces go from 2 in each of the last two Olympics to 8 this time? Is this part of a broader attempt to bring more nations in? Weightlifting has 10 spots this time and judo has 20 (to boxing's total 19), so I thought maybe they were using strength/combat sports to increase membership, but then Tae kwon do has only 4 and all of wrestling only 3.

And then again I ask how can Europe have 4 or 5 directed Tripartite spaces when only 3 countries meet the 6 athlete criterion? This would make sense to me if they were trying to increase the amount of participation of _boxing federations_, giving each space to a fighter from a country that is otherwise not participating, but there is no evidence that is what they are doing. I guess the position most hold is that they will give them to whoever they want, depending on the political considerations.

Here are the countries that meet the 6 athlete rule and had a boxer particpate in the Men's Championship in Baku, the Women's Championship in China, or in their Confederation's Men's Qualifying event and are eligible for a Tripartite space as I understand it - ie nobody from Oceania (prob made a few mistakes):

* - already qualified 1 or more boxers for London
AFRICA - Benin*, Burkina Faso*, DR Congo, Gabon*, The Gambia, Mozambique*, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Togo
AMERICAS - Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua*, Panama, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, US Virgin Islands
ASIA - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar
EUROPE - none

Countries who meet the 6 athlete rule but have no boxers participating in these events - Aruba, Belize, Bhutan, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mauritania, Monaco, Oman, Palestine, Saint Kitts, Sao Tome, San Marino, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Timor-Leste, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

[mike222]

Impressive work Emile-even if you made a mistake(I dont know) it does show the position clearly.
What worries me about this is that boxing can be dangerous and putting someone who has little or no international experience in with big punchers like Ryoto Murata or Cammarelle has obvious risks.
This isnt the 100 metres where a guy with a best time of 12 seconds can have the whole Olympics experience and gain from it.Boxing is a contact sport.

[emile]

Thanks Mike, and yeah, how can those countries who didn't send a boxer to any of the qualifiers hope to send someone reasonably skilled to the Olympics? Maybe every European who didn't qualify can see if they have Liechtensteiner lineage somewhere in their family tree.

The targeting of regional Tripartite spaces by weight is also curious (assuming that info is correct). Gilton Zimmerman of the Dutch Antilles is a pretty decent super-heavy with a kickboxing background and participated in the WSOB. But the Americas doesn't have a space at that weight, so he is out of luck despite his country meeting the eligible NOC guideline. There are no experienced fighters at the Asian weights among eligible nations and eligible nations the Americas have pretty slim pickings (basically Panamanians) at their designated weights.

[emile]

Having read some more news articles, it sounds like everyone expects that, in the women's side especially, that the spots will be a mix of the best remaining fighters and small-country encouragement, so I guess the 6 athlete rule is just not applying to boxing (which also means that there wont be any reason for the Tripartite Commission to return the spots to AIBA). I think they are supposed to announce this coming Monday? Also, it has been reported that the women's Olympic brackets will have only 2 seeds at each weight.

[ogii3]

Emile, this is good news. We are expecting Stoyka Petrova to get a wildcard at 51 kg. She reach the quarterfinals at the worlds and is currently number 9 at AIBA June rankings. Bulgaria still don't have a participant in the women boxing, but Kob and Duta are ahead of her in the ranks. Ukraine and Romania do not have a qualifier in the women tournament, so it will be tough for Petrova to get the quota.

[emile]

The Windsor Star is covering this pretty extensively - yesterday they had more confirmation that the spots will be announced today (Monday June 11). They say Spencer is one of two fighters in contention for one of the spots, who knows if that is real or rumor. The only other non-qualified AIBA-ranked fighters at the weight are from Mexico and the Dominican Rep.

[emile]

Now the Canadian papers say Tuesday or Wednesday.