Boxing at the Summer Olympics

Boxing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since its introduction to the program at the 1904 Summer Olympics, except for the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, because Swedish law banned the sport at the time. The 2008 Summer Olympics were the final games with boxing as a male only event. Since the 2012 Summer Olympics, women's boxing is part of the program.

Boxing at the Summer Olympics
IOC CodeBOX
Governing bodyWorld Boxing (since 2028)
Events14 (men: 7; women: 7)
Summer Olympics
  • 1896
  • 1900
  • 1904
  • 1908
  • 1912
  • 1920
  • 1956
  • 1960
  • 1964
  • 1968
  • 1972
  • 1976
  • 1980
  • 1984
  • 1988
  • 1992
  • 1996
  • 2000
  • 2028
  • 2032

  • Medalists

Summary

Games Year Events Best Nation
1
2
3 1904 7  United States (1)
4 1908 5  Great Britain (1)
5
6
7 1920 8  United States (2)
8 1924 8  United States (3)
9 1928 8  Italy (1)
10 1932 8  Argentina (1)
11 1936 8  Germany (1)
12
13
14 1948 8  South Africa (1)
15 1952 10  United States (4)
16 1956 10  Soviet Union (1)
17 1960 10  Italy (2)
Games Year Events Best Nation
18 1964 10  Soviet Union (2)
19 1968 11  Soviet Union (3)
20 1972 11  Cuba (1)
21 1976 11  United States (5)
22 1980 11  Cuba (2)
23 1984 12  United States (6)
24 1988 12  United States (7)
25 1992 12  Cuba (3)
26 1996 12  Cuba (4)
27 2000 12  Cuba (5)
28 2004 11  Cuba (6)
29 2008 11  China (1)
30 2012 13  Great Britain (2)
31 2016 13  Uzbekistan (1)
32 2020 13  Cuba (7)
33 2024 13  Uzbekistan (2)
34 2028 14 TBD

History

Boxing made its first appearance at the 1904 Summer Olympics as a men's event. Due to few competitors at the time, only North American boxers competed for this edition. Since then, boxing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games besides the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, because Swedish law banned martial arts at the time.

Until 1948, losing semi-finalists competed in a match for a bronze medal. However, in 1950 the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) decided to discontinue the bronze medal match as the short time interval between the semi-finals and the third-place match allowed limited time for competitors to recover. In 1970, AIBA proposed for both losing semi-finalists to receive a bronze medals, which was accepted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and implemented since the 1972 Summer Olympics. Losing semi-finalists from 1952 to 1968 were also retroactively awarded bronze medals after initially only receiving Olympic diplomas.

In 2007, AIBA changed its full name to the "International Boxing Association" as part of a rebranding, albeit maintaining "AIBA" as its abbreviated name.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, women's boxing events were added to the programme for the first time. In 2016, AIBA allowed professional boxers to compete in Olympic events, previously having been limited to amateur or state-funded boxers, for the first time.

On 22 May 2019, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that AIBA had been stripped of the right to organise the 2020 tournament, due to "issues in the areas of finance, governance, ethics and refereeing and judging". Olympic boxing was instead organised by an ad-hoc task force led by Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Gymnastics Federation. In 2021, AIBA unveiled a new logo and officially adopted "IBA" as its abbreviated name.

Amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, 18 national boxing federations formed a consortium known as the "Common Cause Alliance" (CCA), which called for greater transparency on the IBA's finances (including its Gazprom agreement), determine the detrimental effects of the invasion, and for the organisation to take stronger action against the Russian Boxing Federation. The CCA also pledged support for boxing to continue being an Olympic sport.

During the IBA Congress in May 2022, one day before the presidential vote, five candidates connected to the CCA were deemed ineligible by the IBA's Interim Nomination Unit, accusing them of engaging in prohibited "collaborations" and campaigning outside of the designated period. One of the candidates–Dutch official Boris van der Vorst–filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), stating that the candidates had been approved by the IBA's Disciplinary Committee, which had also approved the CCA's activities as being supportive of the IBA's mission. The CAS overruled the IBA decision, resulting in an Extraordinary IBA Congress in September; however, the IBA's members voted against van der Vorst's proposal to challenge Umar Kremlev's re-election as president. By December 2022, the membership of the Common Cause Alliance had grown to 25 federations.

In April 2023, the IOC maintained the need to recognize a new international federation for boxing by early 2025, otherwise the sport's presence at the 2028 Summer Olympics would be at risk. On 13 April 2023, World Boxing was launched as a competitor to the IBA, with its interim board including officials from member organizations of the CCA, and van der Vorst was named inaugural president.

On 22 June 2023, the IOC Executive Board voted to permanently withdraw its recognition of the IBA, citing a continued lack of progress on governance, finances and addressing corruption since its original suspension. This was the first-ever international federation to be removed from the Olympic Movement by the IOC. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, boxing was run by the IOC's "Paris Boxing Unit". On 30 September 2024, the IOC asked National Olympic Committees to derecognise boxing bodies that remained tied to the IBA.

On 26 February 2025, the IOC announced that it had granted provisional recognition to World Boxing as an international federation for Olympic boxing, citing its ongoing progress on membership reach and commitments to competitive integrity. On 17 March 2025, the IOC Executive Board recommended adding boxing to the sports programme of the 2028 Summer Olympics. On 20 March 2025, during the 144th IOC session, boxing was unanimously voted to be included in the 2028 Games.

In April 2025, the IOC announced that one additional women's weight class would be added to boxing for parity with the men's events, bringing the total to 14 medal events in 2028.

Events

The boxing competition is organized as a set of tournaments, one for each weight class. The number of weight classes has changed over the years (currently 7 for men and 6 for women), and the definition of each class has changed several times, as shown in the following table. Until 1936, weights were measured in pounds, and from 1948 onwards, weights were measured in kilograms.

On 23 March 2013, the International Boxing Association instituted significant changes to the format. The World Series of Boxing, AIBA's pro team league which started in 2010, already enabled team members to retain 2012 Olympic eligibility. The newer AIBA Pro Boxing Tournament, consisting of boxers who sign 5-year contracts with AIBA and compete on pro cards leading up to the tournament, also provides a pathway for new pros to retain their Olympic eligibility and retain ties with national committees.

From the 2016 Summer Olympics, male athletes no longer have to wear protective headgear in competition, due to a ruling by the AIBA and the IOC that it contributes to greater concussion risk. Female athletes will continue to wear the headgear, due to "lack of data" on the effectiveness of it on women. Also from 2016 onwards, the "10-point must" scoring system was used.

Medal table

The following table is ranked by the number of golds, then silvers, then bronzes. Until 1948, losing semi-finalists held a bronze medal playoff; since 1952, both losing semi-finalists have received bronze medals.

As of the 2024 Summer Olympics, considering stripped and reallocated medals as of 31 December 2021.
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States502741118
2 Cuba42191980
3 Great Britain20152863
4 Italy15151848
5 Soviet Union14191851
6 Russia1051530
7 Hungary102820
 Uzbekistan102820
9 Poland8102644
10 Kazakhstan781126
11 Argentina771024
12 France6111128
13 China67619
14 South Africa64919
15 Bulgaria551020
16 Ukraine54716
17 East Germany52613
18 Germany491124
19 Ireland451019
20 Thailand44816
21 South Korea371121
22 Canada37818
23 Yugoslavia32611
24 Czechoslovakia3126
25 Japan3058
26 Mexico24814
27 North Korea2349
28 Brazil2259
29 Finland211316
30 Algeria2057
31 Romania191525
32 Denmark15612
33 Turkey15410
34 United Team of Germany1326
 Venezuela1326
36 Netherlands1258
37 Mongolia1247
38 Norway1225
39 Kenya1157
40 ROC1146
41 Belgium1124
 New Zealand1124
43 West Germany1056
44 Chinese Taipei1034
 Dominican Republic1034
46 Sweden05611
47 Philippines04610
48 Nigeria0336
 Spain0336
50 Uganda0314
51 Azerbaijan02810
52 Belarus0202
53 Australia0167
54 Puerto Rico0156
55 Colombia0145
56 Egypt0134
 Ghana0134
58 Chile0123
59 Cameroon0112
 Unified Team0112
61 Australasia0101
 Czech Republic0101
 Estonia0101
 Kyrgyzstan0101
 Panama0101
 Tonga0101
67 Morocco0044
68 India0033
69 Armenia0022
 Georgia0022
 Moldova0022
 Tajikistan0022
 Tunisia0022
74 Bermuda0011
 Cape Verde0011
 Croatia0011
 Guyana0011
 Lithuania0011
 Mauritius0011
 Niger0011
 Pakistan0011
 Refugee Olympic Team0011
 Syria0011
 Uruguay0011
 Zambia0011
Totals (85 entries)2782784921,048

Nations

Nation 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 Years
 Afghanistan       3 1 1 3
 Algeria       2 1 2 7 6 8 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 5 14
 American Samoa       2 2 1 3
 Andorra       1 1
 Angola       3 3 1 3
 Antigua and Barbuda       2 1 2
 Argentina       1 10 8 8 8 8 10 10 10 10 8 5 3 6 4 3 5 7 1 1 2 6 4 23
 Armenia       4 3 1 4 1 5 3 1 8
 Aruba       2 1
 Australasia     1   1
 Australia       3 3 7 5 9 10 10 4 4 4 2 5 4 6 8 9 9 9 11 3 5 12 22
 Austria       3 1 6 5 4 1 5 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 14
 Azerbaijan       2 5 9 2 8 11 5 5 8
 Bahamas       2 3 1 1 1 5
 Barbados       2 2 2 2 1 5
 Belarus       5 1 6 4 3 3 4 7
 Belgium       13 10 6 8 8 5 1 4 1 1 3 11
 Belize       1 1
 Benin       2 7 3 1 4
 Bermuda       1 2 1 3
 Bolivia       1 1
 Botswana       2 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 8
 Brazil       3 6 2 5 3 2 2 4 4 3 4 6 6 5 6 10 9 7 10 19
 Bulgaria       4 2 6 6 9 9 11 11 11 7 6 3 5 2 4 3 3 5 18
 Burkina Faso       2 1 1 1 4
 Burundi       1 1
 Cambodia       4 1 2
 Cameroon       4 3 4 6 4 4 2 3 3 5 4 3 12
 Canada       8 9 7 7 4 7 7 6 4 4 4 5 9 10 10 10 11 7 5 1 3 3 5 2 24
 Cape Verde       1 1 1 2 4
 Central African Republic       2 2 1 1 4
 Chad       1 1
 Chile       4 4 4 5 3 3 4 6 3 1 1 11
 China       2 4 3 3 6 10 9 11 6 8 10
 Chinese Taipei       1 2 7 3 1 2 2 1 2 4 6 11
 Colombia       7 5 5 2 3 4 3 5 5 3 5 6 5 13
 Republic of the Congo       3 1
 Cook Islands       3 1
 Costa Rica       2 1 2
 Ivory Coast       3 3 2 3
 Croatia       1 1 2 2 2 2 1 7
 Cuba       1 6 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 11 10 8 10 7 5 15
 Czechoslovakia       3 8 5 5 5 3 5 5 2 3 3 4 12
 Czech Republic       4 2 1 3
 Denmark     2   12 8 6 2 8 6 5 3 5 4 2 3 3 3 5 4 2 1 1 20
 Dominican Republic       2 6 1 6 5 6 6 3 5 6 3 2 7 3 14
 Democratic Republic of the Congo       6 5 1 1 1 4 2 7
 East Germany       8 8 8 10 11 5
 Ecuador       2 1 3 1 2 1 3 7 4 4 3 11
 Egypt       1 4 5 7 8 5 6 3 6 4 3 4 7 6 3 5 4 2 3 19
 El Salvador       2 1 2
 Estonia       1 1 2 3
 Swaziland       3 2 1 1 1 1 6
 Ethiopia       3 4 6 8 2 2 2 7
 Federated States of Micronesia       1 1
 Fiji       2 2 1 3
 Finland       3 2 6 6 10 3 7 5 5 4 5 5 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 19
 France     7   15 16 8 6 6 8 10 6 8 4 6 6 6 2 4 4 5 7 8 6 9 5 11 6 8 26
 Gabon       1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 8
 The Gambia       1 1
 Georgia       5 2 2 2 3 2 6
 Germany       8 8 8 10 12 8 8 4 4 4 6 3 2 12
 Ghana       6 7 7 6 6 4 5 2 4 6 3 1 3 13
 Great Britain     32   16 16 8 3 8 8 10 7 10 8 9 9 7 9 12 8 10 2 2 1 7 10 12 11 6 26
 Greece       1 2 1 2 3 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 6 2 14
 Grenada       4 4 1 3
 Guam       1 1
 Guatemala       2 1 1 2 1 5
 Guinea       3 2 1 1 4
 Guyana       1 2 2 4 3 3 2 1 1 9
 Haiti       3 1 1 1 1 1 6
 Honduras       2 2 1 1 4
 Hong Kong       2 1
 Hungary       1 4 2 6 6 9 2 6 5 6 6 8 9 9 8 5 3 5 5 3 2 1 3 23
 India       7 4 3 2 3 2 3 5 3 4 4 5 8 3 9 6 16
 Independent Olympic Athletes       1 1
 Indonesia       3 2 2 3 2 2 4 2 1 9
 Iran       8 6 4 5 5 6 5 4 3 1 3 4 1 2 14
 Iraq       2 2 7 3 3 2 1 1 1 9
 Ireland       7 8 4 8 8 7 10 5 6 6 5 7 6 7 6 4 1 1 5 6 8 7 10 23
 Israel       2 3 1 3
 Italy       5 16 7 8 8 8 10 8 10 10 11 8 6 4 7 7 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 4 8 25
 Jamaica       1 2 3 1 3 3 4 2 3 1 10
 Japan       2 5 5 2 3 5 9 4 4 6 7 7 4 3 2 1 2 4 2 5 2 21
 Jordan       2 1 2 5 3 5
 Kazakhstan       8 7 8 10 11 12 9 10 8
 Kenya       5 4 8 10 12 5 5 4 4 2 3 4 11
 Kosovo       1 1 2
 Kuwait       3 1
 Kyrgyzstan       3 5 2 1 1 1 5
 Laos       6 2 1 3
 Latvia       1 1 1 3
 Lebanon       1 1 1 2 1 3 6
 Lesotho       2 3 2 1 2 5
 Liberia       4 1
 Lithuania       2 4 1 2 2 3 2 2 8
 Luxembourg       6 5 5 4 4 5 6
 Madagascar       3 3 2 1 1 1 1 7
 Malaysia       2 1 2
 Malawi       3 6 7 3
 Mali       1 1 1 1 1 5
 Mauritius       1 3 3 1 2 2 2 2 8
 Mexico       4 6 4 1 3 3 5 11 8 3 4 6 6 4 8 6 5 3 2 6 3 4 22
 Moldova       2 1 2 2 1 5
 Mongolia       9 6 7 7 6 3 1 1 4 4 6 3 2 13
 Montenegro       1 1 1 3
 Morocco       7 2 5 3 5 4 7 7 6 5 7 10 8 10 7 3 16
 Mozambique       3 1 1 2 2 5
 Myanmar       2 3 4 3 3 2 2 1 8
 Namibia       1 2 1 2 3 2 2 1 8
 Nepal       4 3 3 5 4
 Netherlands       8 9 6 8 6 5 3 4 2 2 2 2 5 3 2 1 16
 New Zealand       1 2 3 3 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 1 1 2 1 16
 Nicaragua       3 2 1 2 3 2 1 7
 Niger       1 2 4 2 3 1 6
 Nigeria       4 4 5 6 8 6 7 9 4 5 7 4 3 1 3 15
 North Korea       2 3 6 6 2 1 2 1 2 2 10
 Norway       14 9 5 6 4 4 2 1 4 3 1 1 2 13
 Oman       2 1
 Pakistan       3 4 6 4 4 2 2 4 2 4 4 4 5 13
 Palestine       1 1
 Panama       1 2 1 1 1 1 5
 Papua New Guinea       2 2 5 4 1 1 1 1 8
 Paraguay       2 2 2
 Peru       3 2 2 1 2 5
 Philippines       4 5 5 5 5 1 6 5 4 3 3 6 6 5 4 4 1 1 2 4 5 24
 Poland       5 4 7 6 10 9 10 10 11 11 11 11 7 8 4 5 3 2 1 2 4 5 22
 Portugal       1 1
 Puerto Rico       3 3 1 6 6 10 3 11 10 8 7 5 5 5 5 1 1 2 18
 Qatar       2 1
 Refugee Olympic Team       2 2 2
 Republic of China       2 1
 Rhodesia       2 4 1 3
 Romania       4 10 4 9 9 9 11 11 11 6 2 5 6 10 3 2 2 1 2 1 20
 Russia       9 12 11 11 10 11 11 7
 Saar       3 1
 Samoa       4 7 3 2 1 1 2 1 8
 Senegal       4 1 1 3
 Serbia       1 1 3 3
 Serbia and Montenegro       1 1
 Seychelles       2 4 2 3 1 1 1 7
 Sierra Leone       1 2 2 2 1 1 6
 Singapore       1 1
 Slovakia       2 1 1 3
 Somalia       1 1
 South Africa       7 4 6 5 6 8 8 7 8 2 5 3 3 1 2 15
 South Korea       3 4 5 6 8 7 6 6 9 12 11 9 9 7 5 2 2 2 18
 South Yemen       2 1
 Solomon Islands       1 1
 Soviet Union       10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 9
 Spain       7 6 8 8 4 6 5 5 4 5 7 1 1 1 2 2 4 6 18
 Sri Lanka       4 2 2 2 2 1 1 7
 Sudan       3 3 5 4 5 5
 Sweden       5 8 3 4 4 7 3 2 2 2 3 6 6 6 3 6 1 2 3 1 2 2 22
 Switzerland       1 7 8 4 6 6 2 1 3 9
 Syria       8 2 3 2 2 1 1 7
 Tajikistan       1 1 3 4 1 3 3 7
 Tanzania       1 8 9 6 4 5 2 1 8
 Thailand       5 4 5 3 7 5 5 6 6 6 9 6 8 3 4 5 8 17
 Togo       2 3 3 3
 Tonga       7 3 2 1 1 5
 Trinidad and Tobago       2 1 1 1 1 5
 Tunisia       5 2 4 3 1 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 2 2 1 15
 Turkey       6 7 3 6 4 1 8 9 7 5 6 6 6 7 14
 Turkmenistan       1 2 1 2 1 5
 Uganda       6 5 8 8 7 11 9 3 2 4 5 1 2 3 14
 Ukraine       7 11 6 7 7 5 5 3 8
 Unified Team       12 1
 United Team of Germany       8 10 10 3
 United Arab Republic       4 1
 United States     18   16 16 8 8 8 8 10 8 10 10 11 11 11 12 11 12 12 12 9 8 12 8 10 8 25
 Uruguay       5 7 8 2 3 1 4 1 1 1 2 2 12
 Uzbekistan       7 10 9 7 6 11 11 11 8
 Vanuatu       1 1 2
 Venezuela       5 2 3 4 7 10 9 3 6 3 2 4 7 6 3 8 4 2 18
 Vietnam       2 2 2 2 4
 Virgin Islands       1 2 1 2 1 2 1 7
 West Germany       8 9 6 8 6 5
 Yugoslavia       3 4 5 3 7 9 7 7 8
 Zambia       2 4 4 8 9 7 4 4 2 2 3 1 1 3 2 15
 Zimbabwe       3 3 2 3
No. of nations - - 1 4 - 12 27 29 18 31 39 43 34 54 56 65 80 54 51 81 106 78 97 75 72 77 77 74 81 68
No. of boxers - - 18 42 - 116 181 144 85 179 205 249 161 281 269 307 354 266 271 354 432 336 355 307 280 283 283 286 289 248
Year 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24

See also

  • List of Olympic medalists in boxing
  • List of Olympic venues in boxing
  • Boxing at the Youth Olympic Games

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