The International Olympic Committee confirmed Friday it will examine claims that gold medals in the boxing at next year's Olympic Games were promised in reward for a secret payment of $9 million.
A whistleblower from inside the sport alleged that the money was paid to amateur boxing's governing body, the AIBA, on the understanding that Azerbaijan won at least two gold medals at London 2012.
The insider claimed the payment was made to save AIBA's flagship tournament, the World Series of Boxing (WSB). The source said the promises of medals were made by Ivan Khodabakhsh, the chief operating officer of the WSB.
"He was talking about gold medals in London in return for millions of dollars of secret payments," the source said. "Medals are being sold so blatantly, it's amazing."
Khodabakhsh dismissed the allegations, which were first reported by the BBC, as an "absolute lie," while AIBA announced it will hold an investigation into the claims.
The IOC will analyze the findings of the AIBA probe but the Olympic governing body announced its Ethics Commission could launch its own inquiry.
"For its part the IOC takes all allegations of corruption very seriously," IOC communication director Mark Adams said.
Adams insisted the awarding of medals at next year's Games cannot be corrupted.
"The judging process in boxing as in other sports at the Games are transparent and open to public scrutiny," Adams said. "And a number of sports including boxing have made significant changes to their procedures in recent years to deal with any potential issues."
