(February 2nd) World Boxing has appointed Tom Dielen as its new Secretary General to lead and manage its day-to-day operations on the path to the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 (LA28).

Dielen (photo left by Moonlight Photography) was appointed following an open recruitment process and will take up the role in February 2026. He will be based at World Boxing’s office in Lausanne and will report to the Executive Board and the President of World Boxing, Gennadiy Golovkin.

A Belgium and Swiss national, Dielen has nearly 30 years’ experience in a wide variety of leadership roles within Olympic Sport and spent two decades as the Secretary General of World Archery from 2005-2025.

In this role he led the development and execution of a strategic plan that transformed the International Federation from a sport at risk of Olympic exclusion into a credible, well-respected, financially stable model of innovation which was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Prior to this he held senior positions with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc (FITA).

As part of his various roles in sport Dielen has sat on numerous committees and boards within the Olympic Movement for a variety of organizations including the Association of Summer International Olympic Federations (ASOIF) the International World Games Association (IWGA) and the Association of Paralympic Sport Organisations (APSO).

The President of World Boxing, Gennadiy Golovkin, said: “Mr. Dielen’s background in international sport aligns well with the responsibilities and expectations of our organization. I am confident that this experience will strengthen our work and support its future development.”

Tom Dielen added: “I am really thrilled to start a new challenge in the Olympic Movement as Secretary General of World Boxing. From the first contact with Mr. Golovkin, the President, there was a good feeling between the two of us and I thank him and the Board for this opportunity.

“I am looking forward to getting to know the athletes of this truly universal sport. There are exciting moments ahead this year with events for young athletes in Thailand and of course Senegal. Then there will be the World Boxing Cup series events in Brazil, China and Uzbekistan for the athletes as they start their road to LA2028.

“In the coming months, I will start to expand the team to ensure a bright Olympic future for the sport. Let’s get in the ring and work on inspiring and engaging people to pursue a passion for boxing through integrity and excellence.”

Dielen has a Master of Engineering (Computer Science) from the Catholic University of Leuven and a Sport Management Degree from the Belgian Olympic Academy. He also holds a Sport Merit Award from the Catholic University of Leuven and is an Honorary Member of the Compagnie des Archers de Lausanne.

He competed in Field and 3D Archery at national level and is active in Tennis, Curling, Skiing and Cycling. World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with a mission to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement. It held its first formal meeting with the IOC in May 2024 and on 25 February 2025, it was granted provisional recognition by the IOC as the International Federation (IF) within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level.

ABOUT WORLD BOXING

World Boxing is a not-for-profit, international sports federation which aims to put the interests of boxers first and ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement.

It was established by a group of like-minded individuals from a number of National Federations across the world in response to the persistent issues surrounding Olympic-style boxing’s international governing body, whose failure to address the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) longstanding concerns over sporting integrity, governance, transparency and financial management placed boxing’s future as an Olympic sport in doubt.

World Boxing offers an alternative to this and was founded on the principles of integrity, honesty and excellence. 

The organisation is underpinned by rigorous governance practices and aims to create a sustainable and inclusive global sporting structure where boxers from around the world can compete and excel knowing that the integrity of the sport is guaranteed and competition is fair.

It ensures the views of athletes are represented at the highest level and includes a male and female boxer with voting rights on its Executive Board.

Publicly launched in April 2023, by the start of January 2025, World Boxing had approved membership applications from 60 National Federations covering all five Continents that compete in the sport.

On 7 May 2024, World Boxing held its first formal meeting with the IOC which signalled the start of formal collaboration aimed at establishing a pathway for boxing to remain in the Olympic Games.  In September 2024, World Boxing established an Olympic Commission, chaired by the President of the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan, Gennadiy Golovkin, to support and assist the process of developing a pathway to ensuring that boxing is restored to the Games.

World Boxing provides principled leadership to its members and is committed to delivering five key pledges that will safeguard the future of both the sport and its athletes worldwide.

World Boxing pledges to:

Keep boxing at the heart of the Olympic movement

Ensure the interests of boxers are put first

Deliver sporting integrity and fair competitions

Create a competition structure designed in the best interests of the boxers

Operate according to strong governance standards and transparent financial management