International Boxing Association (AIBA) President Ching-Kuo Wu has had his fingers in his ears for the last two weeks, blissfully ignoring the shitstorm that the judging at the Olympic boxing tournament has caused, as he has once again praised those involved in running the compeition.
In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Wu claimed that the 2016 games were a "truly special" tournament for boxing, despite the AIBA executive director being "reassigned" as well as several judges and officials being sent home from the tournament in the wake of the tidal wave of controversy that surrounded the competition.
Wu's comments are laughable and sum up just how frustrating it is for the people who predicted what would happen long in advance, rather than address what the organisation is being widely accused of.
Michael Conlan's accusations were heard around the world, with the vast majority agreeing with him, and yet we get this...
We have witnessed one of the greatest-ever Olympic Boxing competitions here in Rio over the past 16 days.
The high standard of the boxing, with 19 countries participating in the semi-final stage, the excellent organisation of the Rio 2016 Local Organising Committee and the warmth and passion of the Brazilian people all combined to create a truly special tournament
19 countries participated in the semi-final stage, and of course one American boxer did not have a semi-final opponent because the man he was supposed to face was battered in the two fights that he lost en route to the semis.
The warmth and passion of the Brazilian people was clear to see as they resoundingly booed before walking out of the arena after the men's heavyweight final produced one of the most blatant robberies ever seen in the Olympic games.
We successfully opened the door to non-AIBA boxers for the first time and for only the second time, men and women successfully competed side by side in the ring.
This is a historic moment for AIBA and for boxing around the world, and we now have four years to work with this success and continue to build towards Tokyo 2020, with the unwavering support of our 200 national federations.
Replace "historic moment" with "new low", and replace success with "absolute mess", and you're getting warmer, and as for the unwavering support of the national federations? Pull the other one.
Conlan was dead right to say what he said. Those watching knew after the first round that he would have needed to behead his opponent to be awarded the win.
This latest statement comes hot on the heels of Wu's embarrassing attempt to avoid discussion on the result of Michael Conlan's fight against Vladimir Nikitin.
Rather than discuss the fight or the result, he chose to pinpoint Conlan's abuse of the judges as to why they would not like his country... The abuse he gave them AFTER the result..
It really does boggle the mind, and would leave you despairing for the future of amateur boxing.
