PARIS — The two female boxers at the center of a gender dispute at the Paris Olympics will remain in competition as long as they keep winning because they meet all eligibility criteria, the International Olympic Committee said Monday.
The IOC is in charge of staging the boxing tournament in Paris after stripping the International Boxing Association of its recognition last year following its failure to implement governance and finance reforms.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwanese double world champion Lin Yu-ting, who reached the semi-finals of their respective weight divisions, have been allowed to compete at the Games despite being disqualified during the 2023 World Championships.
The IBA said on Monday that the boxers failed an eligibility test after undergoing a chromosome test during the 2023 world championships, and that the IBA had informed the IOC at the time.
The boxing body insists that fighters should not compete in Paris.
“These athletes have been competing in high-level competitions for six years without any issues,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “These women were eligible for this competition, they remain eligible for this competition and they are competing in this competition.”
Both boxers have already secured at least a bronze medal by reaching this stage. Khelif, whose first-round fight against Angela Carini lasted 46 seconds before the Italian decided to stop after being hit by a series of powerful blows, will face Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng on Tuesday. Lin will face Turkey's Esra Kahraman Yildiz on Wednesday.
Khelif on Sunday called for an end to harassment of athletes amid international backlash, saying the hateful scrutiny she has faced over misconceptions about her gender “damages human dignity.”
Khelif's father, Amar, told Reuters he was proud of his daughter and supported her to win a medal for Algeria.
The IOC rejected the results of the tests ordered by the IBA as arbitrary and illegitimate and said there was no reason to carry them out.
“I can't tell you whether they were credible or not credible. [gender tests] “Because the source they came from was not credible and the basis of the evidence was not credible,” Adams said. “For that reason, there was no consideration of whether they were correct or not, because they had no bearing on the eligibility of boxing here.”
At these Games, the IOC is using the boxing eligibility rules that applied at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics, and these do not include gender testing.
The Olympic body has been embroiled in a long-running dispute with the IBA even before it was stripped of its recognition, with IBA president Umar Kremlev of Russia openly attacking IOC President Thomas Bach with a series of incendiary social media posts in recent days.
The IOC has urged national boxing federations to create a new world governing body or risk the sport missing out on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
