Olympics
Spencer Oliver Slams "Incompetent" Judging at Paris Olympics: British Boxing’s Struggles Are Not About Talent
Spencer Oliver criticizes the "incompetent" judging at the Paris Olympics, attributing British boxing's struggles to poor officiating rather than the team's talent.
Image Credits: Sky Sports
British boxing’s Olympic nightmare should be attributed to “incompetent” judging rather than the quality of its team, Spencer Oliver has claimed, after blasting the standard of officiating at the Paris games.
Only one Team GB fighter has progressed to the later stages of this year’s tournament, with five falling at the first hurdle in the French capital. But Oliver, the former European super-bantamweight champion, is convinced those miserable results are a reflection upon the calibre of those tasked with scoring bouts rather than the competitors themselves.
Verdict on the Olympics’ Boxing Judges
“It’s been a terrible Olympics for the team,” he told SportsBoom.com. “Disastrous really. But not because of performance levels, because of incompetent judges.”
“Really, that’s what it is - incompetence. I actually feel really sorry for the people out there, who have put in so much work and then come out on the wrong end of some really bad decisions.”
Charley Davison, Pat Brown, Delicious Orie, Chantelle Reid and Rosie Eccles all lost via split decisions, with three coming under particular scrutiny.
Image Credits: Sky Sports
Controversial Decisions
Describing himself as baffled by the scoring in nearly all of those bouts, Oliver continued: “Rosie won the fight. How can you go into the final round level, the other girl gets a points deduction and doesn’t register and knockdown and still not get it? I can’t even understand the maths on that.”
“Delicious should have won, although admittedly he came on a little late. Charley should have won, in my opinion and the opinion of many other people, as well. “
“Chantelle should have won as well. No doubt about it.”
Oliver, who defended his EBU belt three times before being forced to retire through injury in 1998, remains one of the most recognisable figures on the domestic boxing scene thanks to his job as an expert analyst with Sky Sports, TalkSport and Boxxer.
Now aged 49, he also won a silver medal for England at the Commonwealth Games in Australia a year before turning professional in 1995.
There’s some weird stuff going on for me. If you come up with a decision like that, you need to go in front of a board or a governing body and explain it - outline how you came to give a particular score.”
Spencer Oliver
Impact on Future Olympic Boxing
With the British Olympic Association considering performance levels when deciding its level of backing for individual sports, Oliver hopes they take the controversy surrounding the outcome of many contests involving British boxers into account before announcing their next funding cycle.
“There’s talk about boxing going out of the Olympics after Los Angeles in 2028,” Oliver said. “I really hope it doesn’t and it shouldn’t because boxing is a part of the history of the games.”
“But there’s something going on and it just doesn’t sit right with me. There’s been some controversy out there in Paris, that is for sure. There’s always controversy surrounding boxing and the Olympics.”
The ‘Simple’ Solution
Asked what could be done to improve the quality of judging in the amateur game, Oliver replied: “One of the changes you could make is to get judges who know what they’re doing, pure and simple. Really, it’s that easy.”
“Just get competent judges in there. How can a casual fan - and also people who watch a lot of boxing - think that one person won a fight, like Orie, and then get a handful of people who thought differently? Not everyone else can be wrong and you can be right.
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.