The British middleweight Anthony Fowler, along with the Irish fighters Michael Conlan and Steven Donnelly, have been severely reprimanded by the International Olympic Committee for betting on the boxing competition during Rio 2016. All three escaped without bans but they have been told by the IOC that they must take part in “integrity education programmes”.
There were also reprimands for the British Olympic Association and Olympic Council of Ireland for failing to educate their athletes that they are not allowed to gamble on Olympic events and a reminder to boxing’s governing body, AIBA, to check that its rules comply with the IOC’s and that it has sufficient education programmes in place.
The 25-year-old Fowler, who lost his only contest in Rio, was punished for betting between £30 and £300 on a number of bouts. The IOC’s Integrity Betting Intelligence System (Ibis) identified that on at least one occasion he bet on an event when a British boxer took part, although he did not bet on his own bout.
Donnelly was found to have placed a large number of accumulators – eight altogether – on various boxing events at the Olympics, two of which were on his own welterweight match against Tuvshinbat Byamba. Donnelly, 27, had bet that his opponent would win, but after losing the first round of the fight he came back to win a decision. The IOC said: “As a consequence, none of the bets placed by Mr Donnelly was successful.”
Conlan, a bantamweight bronze medallist at London 2012 and world champion in 2015, accepted that he placed a number of bets on fights, including two in his weight class. The Irish press reported that Conlan told the IOC disciplinary hearing that he was not aware of the ban on athletes’ betting as he had signed the various documents without reading them. The 24-year-old, who was controversially beaten in the quarter-finals by Russian Vladimir Nikitin in a fight he looked to have clearly won, said he was betting because he was bored.
Many will regard the IOC’s stipulations as moot as Conlan has now turned professional, while Donnelly and Fowler are also expected to join the paid ranks.