Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

11. Competition Management
by Sport
314
15
11.4
Boxing
Boxing competition was held at the
Chamshil Students' Gymnasium from
September 17 to October 2, with the
participation of 441 athletes and 159
officials from 106 countries.
The participating boxers, the largest
number in Olympic history, competed
in a total of 427 bouts in 12 weight
classes.
Korea's Byun Jong-il lost his bantamweight
bout to Hristov of Bulgaria in
the second round, and the decision
sparked an unruly protest by Korean
officials.
In the wake of the incident, Referee
Walker resigned as an IF official, while
defeated boxer Byun, who refused to
leave the ring for more than an hour,
and four Korean officials were disqualified
for two years by the Association
Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA);
the Korean Boxing Association was
deprived of the right to stage international
boxing events for one year.
The light middleweight final between
Korea's Park Shi-hun and the U.S.A's
Roy Jones also caused controversy
over what was alleged to be an unfair
decision that gave Park the gold
medal.
The preliminary round middleweight
bout between Korea's Ha Jong-ho and
the U.S.A.'s Hembrick, scheduled for
September 19, was also a subject of
controversy when the American competitor
was disqualified for arriving too
late to box.
11.4.1
Competition Preparations
—————————————–
On request from the NBC, which had
the television rights for the North
American region, the SLOOC, in consultation
with the AIBA, scheduled the
boxing matches to take place in the
mornings.
As a sort of pre-Olympics event, the
Seoul Cup International Boxing Championship
was held at the Chamshil
Students' Gymnasium in March 1988,
inviting about 200 boxers from 20
countries. The Seoul Olympic Boxing
Operations were put into actual operation
at this time.
The Boxing Operations was comprised
of five managers and six officers,
along with 608 operations personnel.
These included; five staff members of
the SLOOC, 194 support personnel, 601
volunteers, and 54 temporary
employees, for a total of 893.
The Chamshil Students' Gymnasium
had a seating capacity of 7,500, and
measured 48x40m square, capable of
holding two rings.
To accommodate the large number of
bouts, two rings were installed for the
preliminary rounds; after the quarterfinals,
however, only one ring was used.
Boxers trained in the Shinil High
School gymnasium and the Seoul
High School gymnasium.
Gloves, headgear and other implements
were supplied by local
manufacturers. It was the first time that
Korean-made gloves, accredited by the
AIBA, were used in Olympic boxing
competition.
Weigh-in scales were supplied by
Toledo Scale of the United States
under licensing arrangements, and
stopwatches were manufactured by
Hanhart of the Federal Republic of
Germany.
11.4.2
Conduct of the Competitions
—————————————–
The Olympic boxing competition
covered 12 weight classes, and each
NOC was allowed to enter one competitor
in each weight class.
Host Korea, the U.S., and the U.S.S.R.
entered competitors in all weight
classes. Cuba, a world amateur boxing
powerhouse, did not participate.
The first weigh-in was conducted on
September 16. Those who failed in the
first weigh-in were allowed to compete
in their weighed-in class, only when
there was no compatriot competitor
entered in that weight class.
The pairing draw for each weight class
was conducted for those who passed
through the first weigh-in at the Chamshil
Students' Gymnasium on September
16, under the supervision of the
AIBA technical delegates.
Those competitors who passed the
first weigh-in were required to be
weighed - in again between
6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on the day of
competition.
The competition officials responsible
for the operation and conduct of the
competitons designated by the AIBA
totalled 42; four Korean referees were
designated as competition officials.
One referee and five judges for each
contest were selected by the Commission
of Refereeing and Judging.
Winners by Weight Class
Division
Light Fly
Fly
Bantam
Feather
Light
Light Welter
Welter
Light Middle
Middle
Light Heavy
Heavy
Super Heavy
NOC
Bulgaria
Korea
U.S.A.
Italy
German Democratic Rep.
U.S.S.R.
Kenya
Korea
German Democratic Rep.
U.S.A.
U.S.A.
Canada
Name
Ivailo Hristo
After the September 22 controversy
over the refereeing on the bantamweight
bout between the Korean Byun
and the Bulgarian Hristov, however,
the AIBA secretary-general personally
allocated the referees and judges to
the contests.
During the light welterweight bout
between the Korean Chun Jin-chul
and the American Todd Foster, the
Korean boxer was knocked down by
the American boxer, after he (the
Korean) had mistaken the sound of a
bell coming from next ring as a signal
to end the first round. The knockdown
was declared void and a rematch was
scheduled. In the rematch, however
the Korean was again knocked out.
Of the total 427 bouts, decisions
accounted for 270 results, RSC 92,
KO 34, and retirement for 31.
In boxing, contests for third and fourth
places did not take place, but the two
competitors who lost in the semifinals
were ranked third together and
awarded bronzes. The U.S. placed first
in medal standings, with three golds,
one silver, and three bronzes; host
Korea finished second with two golds,
one silver and one bronze; and the
German Democratic Republic placed
third with two golds and one silver.
Twenty-five countries captured medals;
eight countries won golds.
Spectator seating was 2,665 for first
class, 2,114 for second class, and
2,406 for third class, for a total capacity
of 7,185. The 15 days of action drew
a total of 97,709 spectators who bought
tickets for admission, recording a seating
occupancy rate of 62.1 percent.
Kim Kwang-sun
Kennedy Mckinney
Giovanni Parisi
Andreas Zuelow
Viatcheslav Janovski
Robert Wangila
Park Si-hun
Henry Maske
Andrew Maynard
Ray Mercer
Lennox Lennox