Association Internationales de Boxe Amateur

(AIBA): The International Federation governing

the sport of Olympic-style boxing worldwide.

Founded in 1946, AIBA, with its current

headquarters in Berlin, Germany, currently

boasts a membership of 178 member nations.

Boxing: A sport that traces its origins to 688

B.C. and the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece.

The sport was officially recognized in the

United States in 1888.

Electronic Scoring: Made its debut in

Olympic-style boxing at the 1989 World Boxing

Championships in Moscow, USSR. Electronic

scoring was first used in Olympic competition

at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.

Females: Females are now allowed to register as

athlete members of USA Boxing and are allowed

to compete in sanctioned amateur competition

within the United States. USA Boxing approved a

female boxing program on Oct. 9, 1993, and the

first women's bout took place in Lynnwood,

Wash., on Oct. 30, 1993.

Former Olympians: The alumni ranks of amateur

boxing are replete with colorful personalities

and remarkable athletes. George Foreman,, Leon

and Michael Spinks, Floyd Patterson, Muhammad

Ali (as Cassius Clay) and Ray Leonard among

others have won Olympic gold medals prior to

winning their professional world titles.

Riddick Bowe, Michael Carbajal, Evander

Holyfield, Roy Jones, Pernell Whitaker and

Oscar De La Hoya are among the current

standouts in professional boxing who got their

start through amateur boxing and competed for

the United States in recent Olympic Games.

Headgear: Serves to absorb much of the force of

headblows and protect the boxer from cuts.

Headgear for all participants was made

mandatory for the 1984 Olympic Games.

"Knockout": A term not used, or recognized, in

Olympic-style boxing.

Olympics: The crown jewel of all amateur boxing

competitions. Boxing first appeared on the

Modern Olympic program in 1904 in St. Louis,

Mo. Since that time, the United States has

captured 47 of the 191 gold medals available,

more than twice the number won by the

second-place country, Cuba (23)

Weight Class: There are 12 weight classes in

Olympic competition. They are:

Light Flyweight 106 pounds

Flyweight 112 pounds

Bantamweight 119 pounds

Featherweight 125 pounds

Lightweight 132 pounds

Light Welterweight 139 pounds

Welterweight 147 pounds

Light Middleweight 156 pounds

Middleweight 165 pounds

Light Heavyweight 178 pounds

Heavyweight 201 pounds

Super Heavyweight 201-plus pounds

Zero: the number of Modern Olympic Games in

which a U.S. Boxing Team has participated that

it has not won at least one medal.