Australian medallist Harry Garside said on Wednesday it would be “a crime” to drop boxing from the 2028 Olympics, calling it a poor man’s sport that saves lives.

Boxing has been part of every Games since 1920, but faces an uncertain long-term future after its place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics was put “on hold” by the International Olympic Committee.

Garside, who won lightweight bronze in Tokyo and is bidding for gold in Paris, said it was more than a sport, with young people’s dreams and aspirations at stake.

“All of our dreams started somewhere, and whether you’re a boxer, whether you’re in other sports, we all love the Olympic movement. That’s why we’re here,” he said.

“To take that away from some young people around the world, it would be a crime, truly.” The International Boxing Association was effectively expelled from the Olympic movement last year following a bitter dispute with its Russian president, Umar Kremlev.

It followed concerns over the credibility of IBA-sanctioned tournaments as well as the boxing governing body’s finances and governance.

No other boxing governing body has been recognised by the IOC, which is organising the tournament in Paris but has said it will not be in a position to do so in Los Angeles.

Garside, Australia’s first boxing medallist in 33 years, said “politics is politics”, but powerbrokers must think about the consequences.

“To say it may not be in the Olympic Games is obviously terrifying because I think boxing is historically a poor man’s sport,” he said.

“If you look around the world, it’s the Third World countries that do the best. It’s the countries that come from these really rough areas in the world. And they’re the ones that come and win gold medals.

“Boxing deserves to be in the Olympics,” he added. “It has saved many people’s lives, and I’ve seen it save many people’s lives. So I hope it stays.”

COVID HITS AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC WATER POLO TEAM

Five members of Australia’s women’s water polo team have tested positive for Covid-19 just days before the Paris Olympics, officials said Wednesday.

Australian chef-de-mission Anna Meares said they would resume training when well enough. Their campaign is due to start on Saturday against China.

“It is confined to the water polo team. There have been five athletes in total who have tested positive,” she said.

Australia has a 13-person team in Paris.

“They are following all the protocols that we have. I can confirm that all the water polo team has been tested as well,” Meares added.

The protocols include wearing masks and isolating outside of training. Paris is the first summer Olympics since the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, which was mostly held without spectators and with rigorous Covid testing procedures in place.

CANADA FOOTBALL STAFF SENT HOME OVER DRONE SCANDAL

An assistant coach and an analyst with the Canadian women’s football team were on Wednesday sent home from the Olympics for their part in a spying scandal.

The analyst, 43-year-old Joey Lombardi, was also given a suspended eight-month prison sentence for flying a drone over a New Zealand training session this week in Saint-Etienne.

Lombardi pleaded guilty when he appeared in court in Saint-Etienne on Wednesday, the court told AFP.

The assistant coach was Jasmine Mander, to whom Lombardi reported. Head coach Bev Priestman also announced she will take no part in the opening game of Canada’s gold medal defence, against New Zealand.

The decisions come after a staff member was detained by French authorities for flying the drone in a bid to spy on New Zealand’s tactics.

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said it had since learned of a second incident involving New Zealand, who formally lodged a complaint with the IOC integrity unit and demanded answers from Canada.

“The COC is in contact with the IOC and in contact with FIFA. Canada Soccer has been transparent and cooperative throughout the process,” the COC said.

“The COC will continue to review this matter and may take further action if necessary.” Priestman said she did not think it would be appropriate to be on the bench for the clash against New Zealand on Thursday.

“On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologise to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada,” she said.

“This does not represent the values that our team stands for.

“I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our programme. Accordingly, to emphasise our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday.”

New Zealand Football released a statement on Thursday morning though, strongly suggesting the drama is far from over.

“There is no place for this type of action in football and it is critical that urgent action is undertaken to address this integrity breach,” New Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell said.

“To hear now that the Canadian team had filmed secret footage of our team training at least twice is incredibly concerning and if not treated urgently could have wider implications for the integrity of the tournament.

“We note that there have been some admissions by the Canadian National Olympic Committee, and they have taken their own sanctions against the Canadian team, however, considering the seriousness of the situation, and the potential implications to the sporting integrity of the entire tournament, we have referred the matter to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee seeking urgent action.”

WORLD NUMBER ONE OUT OF OLYMPICS TENNIS

World number one Jannik Sinner withdrew from the Paris Olympics tennis tournament on Wednesday after falling ill with tonsillitis.

The Italian said he had started feeling ill on Monday after a practice week in Monaco and was advised to drop out.

“After seeing my doctors on Tuesday and waiting an extra day to give myself some more time to see if my condition would improve, things unfortunately got worse,” Sinner said in a statement.

“I was looking forward to competing with my teammates and the rest of the Italian team, but for now that will have to wait.

“As advised by my medical team, I will now take some time to rest and recover to full health. I’d like to wish the whole team Italia the best for this important event and hope to be back stronger in the future.” Sinner said the Olympics had been “was one of my main goals for this season”.

The 22-year-old, who won his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier this year, became the first Italian to top the world rankings after his recent run to the semi-finals at the French Open.

He withdrew from the Madrid Open before the quarter-finals with a hip injury and missed the tournament in Rome in the run-up to Roland Garros.

Sinner needed a lengthy medical timeout after feeling dizzy and appearing to almost lose his balance during his quarter-final defeat to Daniil Medvedev at Wimbledon.

The tennis competition in Paris begins at Roland Garros on July 27 and ends on August 4.

FRENCH MALE HURDLER TO WEAR SKIRT AT OPENING CEREMONY

What’s good enough for Brad Pitt and David Beckham is good enough for French athlete Sasha Zhoya, who has been given the green light to wear a skirt at the Olympic Games opening ceremony.

In a documentary on his preparations for the Games, broadcast this week, Zhoya asked designers of the French team’s outfit if he could opt for a skirt rather than a pair of trousers.

“If women have the right to wear trousers, it should also be right that men have the choice of wearing skirts,” said the 22-year-old who will take part in the 110m hurdles at the Games.

“It’s 2024, we can wear everything. There’s no man, no woman in fashion now.”

Luxury clothes maker Berluti initially designed sleeveless jackets, skirts and trousers for the women in the French squad but long-sleeved jackets and trousers for the men.

Hollywood star Pitt wore a skirt at a red carpet function in Germany in 2022 while former England footballer Beckham donned a sarong at the 1998 World Cup.

1,000 POLICE TO SECURE FOOTBALL GAME

Around 1,000 French police officers will be on duty on Wednesday to protect Israel’s football match against Mali at the Paris Olympics where protests are also expected, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

The game involving the Israeli team at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, as well as the Ukraine-Iraq match in the southeastern city of Lyon, have been identified by French security forces as high risk.

“All the competitions have a security plan, but it’s true that these two matches, and particularly the match at the Parc des Princes, will have security, an anti-terror perimeter,” Darmanin told BFM television and RMC radio.

“Tonight at the Parc des Princes there will be a thousand police officers who will ensure that we are there for the sport,” he added.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog will attend the match.

All Israeli athletes at the Paris Games, which start officially on Friday, will have round-the-clock personal security provided by elite French police, both inside the Olympic village and every time they leave the compound in northern Paris.

A French police source told AFP that security forces were “expecting actions and disturbances around the stadium” on Wednesday and said it was possible that “people shout insults from the stands” or that there is “whistling and flags shown during the hymns, for example.”

Europalestine, a French activist group behind recent protests, told the Guardian newspaper that it was planning a peaceful demonstration inside the stadium to protest the “genocide” in Gaza.

“We do not take (the threat) lightly, we are on high alert and all athletes have been informed of the situation,” said Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer.

“Our duty to protect our athletes, in cooperation with the French authorities, is of the utmost importance,” he added.

The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach and French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday rejected a Palestinian demand that Israel be barred from the Paris Games over the war in Gaza.

The Palestine Olympic Committee asked for a ban on Israel in a letter to the IOC, citing the bombings of the besieged Gaza Strip as a breach of the Olympic truce.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Tuesday at least 39,090 people have been killed in more than nine months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

DANCERS CALL OFF OLYMPICS CEREMONY STRIKE THREAT

Hundreds of dancers who were threatening to strike during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday have called off their protest after receiving a new pay offer, their union said.

The performers secured a rise in compensation for broadcasting rights during a final round of talks with Paris 2024 organisers on Wednesday, the SFA-CGT union said in a statement.

“This period has concluded with a victory, which although it is not total, is nonetheless a response to the urgent issues raised,” it said.

The union, which says it represents around 10 percent of the 3,000 performers involved in the opening ceremony, filed a strike notice last week over what it said were “outrageous disparities” in pay between dancers.

The deal agreed on Wednesday means that the lowest-paid dancers would receive between 160-240 euros extra for their performance on Friday evening, a union member involved in the negotiations told AFP.

Some of them had protested on Monday during rehearsals by the river Seine by stopping and holding their fists aloft for eight minutes.

The threat was an unwelcome development for organisers and risked deepening France’s reputation for labour disputes just as the eyes of the world fall on Paris for the start of the Games.

A whole host of French public sector workers have threatened strikes or stopped work ahead of the Olympics to demand bonuses for working over the July 26-August 11 event, which coincides with the summer holidays.

One-off payments of up to 1,900 euros have been agreed for police and municipal workers in Paris.

The opening ceremony is set to take place over a six-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the river Seine, with around 6,000-7,000 athletes expected to sail down the river on 85 boats.

It will be the first time a summer Olympics has opened outside of the main athletics stadium.

A small union at Paris airport operator ADP has also filed a strike notice for Friday.

ADP management reached an agreement last week with most labour groups to end a dispute over Olympic bonuses.