(JUNE 9)  Great news today from the International Olympic Committee is that there will be five women’s weights in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the additional two 57kg and 69kg being at the expense of two men’s weights.

IOC President Thomas Bach made the announcement, later confirmed by a statement from IOC HQ.

“THE EXECUTIVE BOARD (EB) OF THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) TODAY APPROVED THE EVENT PROGRAMME FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES TOKYO 2020. THE DECISION MARKS A KEY MILESTONE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE OLYMPIC PROGRAMME BY INTRODUCING YOUTH AND URBAN INNOVATIONS, SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVING GENDER EQUALITY, AND REDUCING THE OVERALL NUMBER OF ATHLETES HENCE REDUCING THE GAMES’ FOOTPRINT.

Commenting on the decision, IOC President Thomas Bach said “The fascinating new events that we approved today, together with the five new sports that were added to the Tokyo 2020 programme last year, represent a step-change in the Olympic programme. I am delighted that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will be more youthful, more urban and will include more women”, Bach added.

The EB decision will lead to a net increase of 15 events, an overall reduction of 285 athletes from Rio 2016, and the highest representation of female athletes in Olympic history. In Tokyo, the number of mixed events will double from nine in Rio 2016 to 18. All new events will make use of existing venues.

Today’s decision is a significant step towards achieving the 50 per cent gender balance at the Olympic Games in both athletes and events, as clearly stated by Olympic Agenda 2020.”

Later the AIBA issued this statement :

“AIBA has taken note of the IOC Executive Board decision of 9 June in pursuit of greater gender equality at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the resultant changes to the Olympic Boxing Tournament that will see 8 men’s and 5 women’s weight categories contested. Boxing is one of the Summer Olympic sport that are a part of this gender-balancing process, a key element of the Olympic Agenda 2020, however there will be no drop in the total number of our athletes competing in Tokyo 2020 compared with Rio 2016. AIBA is proud of the central role it has played in developing women’s boxing and its introduction to the Olympic programme at London 2012, which saw the first gold medals awarded to the superb champions Nicola Adams, Katie Taylor and Claressa Shields, and fully supports the move towards gender equality. AIBA’s next step is to convene the expertise of its relevant Commissions in the coming days and open discussions regarding the optimum ways of adapting the competition structure to incorporate these changes. The Commissions’ findings will then be presented to the AIBA Executive Committee at its annual meeting in late July.”