Thursday 29 September 2016 06:05, UK
Boxers from Ireland and Great Britain have been "severely reprimanded" for betting violations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed.
Ireland's Michael Conlan and Steven Donnelly, and GB's Anthony Fowler were taken to task for placing bets on fights within their own respective weight divisions, the IOC has confirmed.
Donnelly fought in the men's welterweight division at Rio 2016 and was found to have bet on his own last-16 opponent Tuvshinbat Byamba of Mongolia among several that he had placed in an accumulator.
The 28-year-old from Ballymena ultimately won his fight despite betting on his opponent to win.
Within the IOC's inquest, Donnelly had claimed "he had bet without intending to cheat by losing his match to win his bets, rather, winning the bets would be some compensation in the event he lost his match".
Conlan was controversially eliminated in Rio after his quarter-final bantamweight bout with Russia's Vladimir Nikitin.
The world, European and Commonwealth champion has since turned professional but, like Donnelly, was found to have violated IOC betting regulations in Rio.
Conlan was found to have placed several bets on August 8 and 9 on Olympic bouts, with at least two in his own weight category. Unlike Donnelly, Conlan did not place bets on his own fights.
All of Conlan's bets were unsuccessful but the IOC's judgement found "they had created opportunities to make large amounts of money if they had been successful".
Within his individual hearing, Conlan admitted the violation commenting he had signed Olympic betting regulation documents without reading them, thus he was in fact not aware of the prohibition".
Conlan says he placed the bets because "there was not much to do in the Olympic Village" and he had been "bored", whilst he added that he was now willing to "help educate his fellow athletes using his own experience".
Great Britain's Fowler, 25, competed in the middleweight category during Rio 2016 and was also found to have placed bets on Olympic boxing events.
Fowler, who is the cousin of former Liverpool footballer Robbie Fowler, was eliminated in the round of 32 following defeat to Kazakhstan's Zhanibek Alimkhanuly, and like both Donnelly and Conlan was confirmed to have been sanctioned with a "severe reprimand".
Both the Irish and British Olympic councils were also reproached and punished by the IOC for having "not properly informed its athletes about the content of the different rules applicable to them on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Rio, as well as about the content of the contract signed with them and is requested to make sure that the team preparation for the Olympic Games (winter and summer) includes complete education on the prevention of the manipulation of competitions and betting on the Olympic Games, using the material provided to the NOCs by the IOC".
The IOC concluded "as there was no intent to manipulate any event, all three athletes have been issued severe reprimands and obliged to follow and contribute to various integrity educational programmes".
