THE Olympic boxing was labelled “truly terrifying” and “destroying women’s sports” by the organisation at war with the IOC.
The International Boxing Association (IBA) hit back at the Olympics’ decision to allow Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting to compete at Paris 2024, 18 months after allegedly failing gender eligibility tests at the World Championships.
It comes with the pair of boxers both guaranteeing themselves medals after Lin booked her semi-final spot yesterday.
IBA president Umar Kremlev told Sky News: “It’s sad when we shout to the whole world that we are for gender equality, protection of women and then they simply destroy women’s sports.
“We must not allow this to happen. If we remain silent now, then later it will become normal.
“This is why our relationship with [the IOC] is deteriorating because they do not protect athletes. And we do protect athletes.”
The Russian-backed IBA claim Khelif and Lin’s gender tests in New Dehli in March 2023 proved they had increased testosterone and the XY chromosomes, usually for males, rather than the general female XX code – after Khelif beat a Russian boxer in the round of 16 – and booted them out.
The IBA technical and competition rules from May 13, 2023 define a “women/female/girl” as “an individual with chromosome XX”.
But Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) athletes have a rare condition involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs.
On June 5, 2023, the IBA sent a letter to the IOC to explain why they disqualified Khelif, explaining that her tests “concluded the boxer’s DNA was that of a male consisting of XY chromosomes” – Khelif initially appealed before retracting.
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The letter reportedly stated: “This situation epitomises the importance of protecting safe sport, and the integrity of sport in which the Olympic Movement is jointly committed to.
“We are kindly writing to offer our support and cooperation on the matter as it directly impacts the safety of our boxers and the integrity of the [competition] results.
“In confidence, the IBA can share that Imane Khelif was disqualified from the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023 in New Delhi for breaching the IBA Technical and Competition Rules and was not medically eligible to participate in the event as a female boxer.
“Boxers can be submitted to a random and/or targeted gender test to confirm the above [females having XX chromosomes], which will serve for the gender eligibility criteria for the IBA competitions.”
Just 17 days later, on June 22, the IOC officially split from the IBA by announcing their recognition withdrawal – three years after initially suspending the IBA.
The IOC determine gender based on athletes’ passports but asked why they will not do their own gender tests, chief Mark Adams described it as a “minefield” as he slammed Kremlev and his organisation’s testing protocols.
After confirming the IOC did receive the information from the IBA, Adams said: “This is absolutely not a transgender issue, these women were born as girls, registered as females with female passports and won and lost bouts as women.
“The tests are not legitimate. They came from a discredited federation which wanted to change the result of a bout.
“The IBA have no authority. You only have to look up Mr Kremlev who has interesting links, he has uploaded aggressive and explosive videos.
“The IBA should not be trusted or listened to. We banned them because they are not good for the sport.
“In the bad old days in the 20th century, we had sex testing and I know gold medallists who went through it, it is humiliating and against human rights. We cannot go back to that.”
However, SunSport understands the IBA plan to drop new bombshell evidence at a press conference in Paris today and prove their tests are legitimate.
It comes after Lin beat Svetlana Kamenova Staneva by a unanimous points decision to reach Wednesday’s semis – before the Bulgarian pointed to herself and made two X symbols with her fingers inside the ring after defeat.
Staneva’s coach Borislov Geoirgiev carried a piece of paper with a handwritten note that read: “I only want to play with women I am XX,” and told the press: “This is maybe the message from every single woman boxer in this tournament.”
Geoirgiev claimed he wrote the words himself but suggested it was supported by Staneva before implying No1 seed Lin should not be allowed to fight in Paris.
He added: “I am not a medical person who should say if Lin could compete or not here but when the tests show that he or she has the Y chromosome she could not be here.”
