Canadian ruling brings Taylor's dream closer

2012 LONDON OLYMPICS:THE CHANCES of Ireland's world champion amateur boxer Katie Taylor competing in the Olympic Games in London 2012 have increased significantly following a recent court hearing in Canada.

A decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on whether to allow women’s boxing into the Games will be announced in Berlin on Thursday afternoon along with a recommendation for a maximum of two new sports that will be included in the Olympic schedule for 2016.

Rugby and golf are said to be front runners among baseball, softball, karate, roller hockey and squash. The IOC Congress meeting in Copenhagen on October 2nd will make the final decision on what sports to include.

The IOC are increasingly coming under pressure to have a gender balance in the Olympic Games with a court case involving 15 female ski jumpers from five countries recently highlighting the issue.

The athletes’ attempt to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where ski jumping was not on the schedule, was rejected by the Supreme Court in British Columbia, Canada.

But in her ruling Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon agreed that it was discriminatory to keep ski jumping a men-only event even if the women’s constitutional rights were not violated.

She found that the IOC were to blame for the discrimination but ruled that it was not under the jurisdiction of Canadian law.

Embarrassed by the rebuke the decision for women’s boxing, which has never been part of the Olympic schedule, comes after women narrowly missed out on being included in the Beijing Olympic Games in 2004.

If the decision is made to include the event in London, Taylor, who competes in the competitive lightweight division, will be one of the favourites to win a medal.

Taylor has been twice world champion and three times European champion and last year was voted by amateur boxing’s governing body, the IABA, as their choice as World Boxer of the Year.

A native of Bray, Co Wicklow, Taylor has remained unbeaten for several years and in that time has rarely even been hit in competitive bouts. Coached by her father, Peter, she is also a member of the women’s national soccer team.

But boxing has always been her number-one choice and on Thursday the IOC executive committee can decide on one of three things. It can reject the inclusion of women in the 2012 games; it can permit the inclusion of women into Olympic boxing or it can park the issue.

The Canadian Supreme Court case will be very much in mind as well as the 120 global federations that women’s boxing now boasts.

Since before Beijing negotiations have been taking place between the IABA and the IOC with much of the discussion focusing on numbers of athletes and quality.

Fears were that the sport was not competitive in enough countries, which could lead to potentially dangerous mismatches. While participation has greatly increased it was agreed that a “balancing act” would have to be struck for women boxers to make it into the 2012 Games.

It is also understood that if women are admitted to the Games the men’s schedule would have to be trimmed.

One mooted format is for 40 female boxers across five weight divisions, which would put the qualifying athletes into a quarter-final position straight off.

It would also mean just one fight for a bronze medal and ensure that the men would lose some classes with the lighter divisions, where Beijing bronze medallist Paddy Barnes competes, looking most vulnerable.

In the men’s boxing competition super heavyweights and heavyweights go into a last 16 format, while all others are last 32. Occasionally a class might have just 28 or 30 entrants.

With countries like China and Russia expected to come into the sport in a more professional way, Taylor’s opposition is expected to get tougher. China, particularly, has endorsed the idea of women’s boxing, which should also have significant sway with the IOC.

According to IOC officials rugby sevens and golf have an excellent chance of being the two chosen sports for 2016 with golf particularly presenting the prospect of Irish medal chances in the week that Pádraig Harrington slipped back into the world top-10 rankings.

Much has also been made of the fact that IOC president Jaques Rogge was a former Belgian rugby international, although the Olympic boss has claimed he has not tried to influence the decision-making process. The televisual appeal and global spread of the sports is also a factor that the IOC will consider.

Both golf and rugby were considered in the 2005 vote but neither met the two-thirds majority. Since then, the system has been changed to require just a simple majority.