Boxing association blames Olympics for letting sex-disputed athletes fight women despite warnings

The rowdiest fight at the 2024 Paris Olympics may be the feud between the International Olympic Committee and the International Boxing Association over a pair of gender-disputed boxers.

Leaders of the IBA placed blame Monday for the women’s boxing uproar squarely on the Olympic committee, saying they sent lab results to the IOC after the boxers were disqualified from the 2023 Women’s World Championships, but that the IOC did nothing.

The association’s criteria for the female category is “An individual with chromosome XX,” according to the IBA letter to the IOC dated June 5, 2023.

“The IOC had received this information,” IBA General Secretary Chris Roberts said Monday at a press conference in Paris. “Clearly for us, the interesting situation here is that while the IOC had that information previously, they haven’t done anything with it because they rely on their own criteria, which from what I’m hearing is the passport.”

The lengthy, often raucous press conference came after IOC President Thomas Bach insisted Sunday that the two athletes meet the eligibility criteria for women’s boxing, noting that their passports identify them as women.

He also accused the IBA of engaging in a “defamation campaign against France, against the games, against the IOC.”

Both fighters — Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lu Yu-ting — are scheduled to compete in the semifinals this week after easily defeating their female opponents in the women’s quarterfinals.

Khelif, 25, is scheduled to fight Tuesday in the 57 kg semifinal, while Lin will compete Wednesday in the 66 kg category. Both athletes are guaranteed medals under Olympic rules awarding bronze medals to the losing semifinalists.

The bad blood between the IOC and the IBA predates the Paris Olympics. Last year, the IOC withdrew its recognition of the association after suspending it in 2019 over issues with governance, financing and judging integrity.

The IBA said it tested four boxers, including Khelif and Lin, at the 2022 Women’s World Championships in Istanbul following “many complaints from several coaches.”

The testing completed after the event produced “results that didn’t match the eligibility criteria for IBA women’s events.” 

“Khelif won the silver medal in category 63 kg, Lin won the gold medal in category 57 kg,” the IBA said in a timeline released Monday.

The athletes were retested the following year before the first bouts at the 2023 championships in New Delhi, and the “findings were absolutely identical to the first test results,” said the IBA.

Asked for more details, IBA officials said they received letters from the Algerian and Taiwanese national Olympic committees warning them not to disclose personal information about the athletes, including specific test results, but that the boxers were found to have the “karyotype of male,” referring to chromosomes.

“Our problem is that we have two blood exams with karyotype of male,” said Dr. Ioannis Filippatos, an obstetrician and president of the European Boxing Confederation. “This is the answer from [the] laboratory. It’s not my answer.”

The officials insisted they had nothing against Khelif or Lin, or the Algerian and Taiwanese teams.

“The problem is not about Khelif. Khelif is one very good boxer, [a] very talented boxer. She’s very good. I respect her,” Filippatos said. “But as a doctor, I need to protect the women’s category.”

Khelif asked critics in an interview Sunday with SNTV to “refrain from bullying,” citing the psychological toll on athletes.

“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects,” Khelif said in Arabic. “It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams has said “this is not a transgender issue,” spurring speculation that the athletes may have a Difference of Sexual Development known as 46, XY, in which individuals are born with ambiguous genitalia but later produce male-level testosterone and undergo male puberty.

A number of past Olympic track medalists, including South Africa’s Caster Semenya, are believed to have DSD 46, XY chromosomes, prompting World Athletics to change its criteria banning such athletes from certain races in international competition.

IOC Media issued a correction after Bach said at the Saturday press conference that “this is not a DSD case,” saying he meant to say, “this is not a transgender case.”

• This article was based in part on wire service reports.