As a second boxer who previously failed a gender eligibility test gets ready to participate on Friday, the International Olympic Committee has stood by its stance.
Less than 24 hours after Algeria’s Imane Khelif defeated Italian Angela Carini in only 46 seconds in her debut Olympic battle, Lin Yu-ting, the double world champion from Taiwan, is set to compete on Friday at 2.30pm (UK time) against Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan.
Lin did not match the eligibility requirements set by the International Boxing Association (IBA) and hence forfeited her bronze medal in the 2023 World Championships. Hours before her gold medal match at the same competition, Khelif was also disqualified.
But in June of last year, the IOC stripped the IBA of its status as the world governing body for boxing due to the organization’s inability to finalize reforms pertaining to ethics, money, and governance.
Different eligibility requirements are being applied by the IOC, which is organizing the boxing competition in Paris. These requirements have become the subject of a global debate following Khelif’s triumph on Thursday, but the IOC has accused the IBA of being “arbitrary” in excluding Lin and Khelif from competition last year.
“These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA,” the IOC said in a statement.
“Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
“According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO.”
The IOC argued that the fighters have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Tokyo Olympics which were held in 2021, and other World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments.
“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years,” the statement continued.
“The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving. Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination.”
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams reiterated that position on Friday morning, saying: “The IOC is always trying to do a balance between inclusivity and fairness and that is a difficult one and something that we’ll have to look at.
“That’s an entirely separate question to what’s going on here, which is when women boxers are being stigmatised and potentially forced out of competition.”
The IBA had earlier criticised the IOC for its “inconsistencies in eligibility”.
“Both Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, post testing, did not meet the required eligibility criteria to compete within the female category of our respective events,” said an IBA statement.
“The urgent nature of the decision (to disqualify the boxers) was justified, as the safety of our boxers is our top priority.”
The statements came hours after Khelif defeated Carini in less than a minute, leaving the Italian in tears in the ring and reporting a suspected broken nose.
“It hurt so much. I am heartbroken,” said Carini. “I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior, but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this.”
Italy’s family minister Eugenia Roccella said on Wednesday: “It is surprising that there are no certain, strict, uniform criteria at the international level.”
She added that it was strange “that there can be a suspicion, and far more than a suspicion, of an unfair and potentially dangerous contest for one of the contenders at the Olympics, an event that symbolises sporting fairness”.
Algeria’s Olympic committee (COA) has previously condemned the “baseless” attacks on Khelif.
What is a DSD?
Medical information is confidential, so we don’t know for certain if the boxers at the heart of this controversy have DSD (differences in sex development).
But it is reasonable to believe that this is at the heart of the debate. It has caused controversy in sport before, most notably with the two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya.
The NHS defines DSD as “a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs, including genitals. It means a person’s sex development is different to most other people’s.”
This means someone may have sex chromosomes usually associated with being male (XY chromosomes), but reproductive organs and genitals that may look different from usual.
Some people with DSDs are raised as a girl but have XY sex chromosomes, testosterone levels in the male range and the ability to use testosterone circulating within their bodies.
It is possible therefore that someone could be raised as a female but develop the advantages that going through male puberty gives an athlete.
In combat sports like boxing, many would regard this as a safety issue for those competing in the women’s category. Others would argue that this goes against aims to achieve inclusivity in sport.
IBA rules prevent boxers with XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events, but the IOC says inclusion should be the default criteria.
It is the IOC which has set the rules for boxing in Paris.