Umar Nazarovich Kremlev

Profile Overview

Umar Kremlev (ru: Умар Назарович Кремлёв; born as Umar Nazarovich Lutfuloev on 1 November 1982) is a Russian sports functionary and ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. He has served as the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA) since 2020. He has been Secretary General and a Member of the Executive Committee of the Boxing Federation of Russia since February 2017. In 2022, IBA members voted against holding an election by 106 votes to 36, allowing Kremlev to remain IBA president.
Under Kremlev's tenure as IBA head, he has heavily marketed himself, moved the body's operations to Russia, suspended Ukraine from competing, and made the Russian state‑owned energy giant Gazprom the IBA's sole sponsor. The IBA's relationship with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) deteriorated under Kremlev's tenure. The IOC decertified the IBA and took control of the boxing competition from the IBA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, just as it had done at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The IOC stated that the IBA had failed to address concerns regarding governance, finance, and corruption.
Since then, Kremlev has emerged as one of the key purveyors of Russian disinformation in international sports. Kremlev has stirred controversy by claiming, falsely and without evidence, that the female boxer Imane Khelif failed her gender test after she defeated a Russian boxer, and has allegedly referred to IOC president Thomas Bach as a "chief sodomite".