Referee who mediated Bia Ferreira's fight in the semifinal is suspected of corruption

The two boxing referees at the Paris Olympics, Yermek Suiyenish and Alisher Altayev, officiated 21 and 25 fights respectively during the competition and, under suspicion, were removed before the Games even ended.

A judge mediated Team Brazil

One of those involved in the moral deviation acted in the fight between the Brazilian Beatriz Soares Ferreira, current bronze medalist, and the Irish Kellie Harrington, in the semifinal of the category. According to the British newspaper The Times, the boxing mediators are from Kazakhstan.

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_{Kellie Harrington, from Ireland celebrates victory over Bia Ferreira in boxing (Photo: reproduction/Richard Pelham/Getty Images Embed)}

According to the British press, they were removed on August 4, after a report prior to the Games indicated Altayev as a “high risk” for corruption, while Suiyenish was considered a “medium risk”. Also according to the newspaper, the document reached the International Olympic Committee (IOC) before the competition, but the interesting thing comes now: they still supervised almost 50 matches. The Olympic boxing matches in Paris/2024 took place until August 10. In other words, they were removed only from the outcome of the competition.

Suspected cases

Investigations suggest that nine more boxing judges may be involved in corruption at the Games, however, the International Boxing Federation and the International Olympic Committee have not yet commented on the matter.

In the under 60 kg category, Beatriz Ferreira lost her place in the final after being defeated by the Irishwoman, and Suiyenish was responsible for the refereeing of this fight. The Brazilian ended up winning the bronze medal.

The news of the exclusion of boxing referees also had an impact in Italy. According to the newspaper Corriere della Sera, Altayev was the referee of the fight in which Italian Irma Testa, bronze medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, lost to Chinese Xu Zichun in the first round. The Italian fighter, outraged, protested the refereeing after the fight.

Featured photo: Judge Yermek Suiyenish looks at the winner of the fight against Bia Ferreira (Reproduction/Richard Pelham/Getty Images Embed)