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DISCIPLINE'S ORIGIN
Boxing has a long sporting history. The earliest evidence of boxing is found in Egypt around 3000 BC. The sport was introduced to the Olympic Games by the Greeks in the late 7th century BC. Greek boxers used thongs of soft leather to bind their hands and forearms for protection. Later, in Rome, the leather thongs were exchanged for the cestus which was studded with metal. Gladiatorial boxing matches usually ended with the death of one contestant. With the fall of the Roman Empire the history of boxing ends until reference to matches are once again found in 17th century English records.
Organised amateur boxing began in 1880. The sport has grown from the rudiments based on the rules of professional boxing at the turn of the century to having its own identity, visibility and set of rules. Originally only three weight classes were contested. Although boxing can be traced back to ancient Greece and the original Olympic Games, boxing was not included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 because its popularity had become limited to the United States.
OLYMPIC HISTORY
The United States of America won all the medals when boxing made its debut on the Olympic programme during the 1904 Olympic Games in Saint Louis. Not surprisingly, the United States was the only team to enter the boxing competition! Boxing was not included in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm because Swedish law prohibited boxing. In 1950 the AIBA Congress decided to have no contests for the bronze medal. It has thus been the practice since the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki that the losers of the semi-final are both ranked as placing third. In 1952 both third place finishers were only awarded diplomas. In 1956 this was changed and bronze medals are now given to both third place finishers.
A more recent change to the rules and regulations occurred at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles when the compulsory wearing of head guards was introduced. An electronic scoring machine to make judges' officiating more objective was also introduced in 1992. Now only blows registered within one second by at least three of five judges are taken into account.
