Algerian boxer Imane Khelif complies with entry regulations set by various ruling entities, the Olympic committee clarified. The new elucidation follows the dangerous misinformation that has been circulating about the athlete amid Italian boxer Angela Carini abandoning facing Imane just 46 seconds into their fight.
“Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination,” the Olympic committee asserted in an official statement released on Thursday (August 1).
Highlights
- Algerian boxer Imane Khelif complies with all entry and medical regulations set by ruling entities, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) newly said.
- IOC assured that allegations of ineligibility against Imane Khelif are baseless and clarified their guidelines.
- The International Boxing Association (IBA)'s previous disqualification of Imane due to 'elevated testosterone' was sudden and lacked proper procedure.
- IOC suspended IBA in 2019 due to concerns about governance, corruption, and financial mismanagement.
- Notable figures spread misinformation about Imane, despite her compliance with all eligibility requirements, and also being born a female.
The committee assured that all athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU).
The Paris 2024 Boxing Qualification System was approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board and orders the disqualification at a competition if the ringside doctor in charge of the pre-bout medical examination may find that a boxer has exposed open infected skin lesions, severe chronic infections, recent surgery, and significant psychiatric disturbances, among other conditions.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif complies with entry regulations set by various ruling entities, the Olympic committee clarified
Image credits: Eurosport
These rules also applied during the qualification period, including the boxing tournaments of the 2023 European Games, Asian Games, Pan American Games and Pacific Games, the ad hoc 2023 African qualifying tournament in Dakar (SEN) and two world qualifying tournaments held in Busto Arsizio (ITA) and Bangkok (THA) in 2024, which involved a total of 1,471 different boxers from 172 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the Boxing Refugee Team and Individual Neutral Athletes, and featured over 2,000 qualification bouts, the Committee stated.
The PBU used the Tokyo 2020 boxing rules as a baseline to develop its regulations for Paris 2024 to minimize the impact on athletes’ preparations and guarantee consistency between Olympic Games.
While backlash was unveiled regarding the International Boxing Association (IBA)’s regulations being dismissed when it came to allowing alleged ineligible athletes to compete, the Committee reminded the public that its Tokyo 2020 rules were based on the post-Rio 2016 rules.
These rules were in place before the suspension of the IBA by the IOC in 2019 and the subsequent withdrawal of its recognition in 2023.
Image credits: Eurosport
The IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 and eventually withdrew its recognition in 2023 as a result of longstanding concerns about its governance and management.
These included allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement, which led to a lack of confidence in the organization's ability to oversee the sport effectively.
The IBA’s judging and refereeing standards in boxing had been controversial, particularly during the Rio 2016 Olympics, where there were numerous allegations of biased and unfair judging.
Moreover, the IBA faced significant financial difficulties, including large debts. This financial instability was a major concern for the IOC, as it threatened the organization's ability to function and support the sport at the Olympic level.
The new elucidation follows the dangerous misinformation that has been circulating about the athlete
Image credits: Eurosport
Despite multiple warnings and the IOC's demands for reforms, the IBA failed to implement necessary changes to address these issues adequately. The organization's inability or unwillingness to reform further strained its relationship with the IOC.
“We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” the Committee wrote. “The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, IBA, World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments.”
It further countered: “These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA.
“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.”
At the time of the decision, a meeting was attended by Abdulmutalim Abakarov, the IBA’s vice president, George A. Yerolimpos, the IBA’s secretary general, and Yury Zaytsev, the IBA’s CEO.
“The IBA Board only ratified it afterward and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations,” the Committee explained. “The minutes also say that the IBA should ‘establish a clear procedure on gender testing.’”
The IOC concluded: “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 IOC finally stated it was “saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving.”
This follows Italian boxer Angela Carini abandoning facing Imane just 46 seconds into their fight
Image credits: DD_Geopolitics
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting are the two athletes who have been cleared to compete in women's boxing at the Paris Olympics but faced bigoted backlash after being stripped of titles and disqualified from the IBA.
The IBA stripped Lin of her World Championships bronze medal in the March 2023 event after failing a gender eligibility test, and it also disqualified Imane in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
No further details were given on why the boxers were disqualified from last year's World Championships, the BBC reported on Tuesday (July 30).
Both athletes competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, and Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women's Amateur Boxing Championships.
"These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven't just suddenly arrived - they competed in Tokyo," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said on Tuesday.
He added: "The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
"In the end, the experts for each sport are the people who work in that.
"If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level."
The International Boxing Association, dismissed by the Olympics partially due to corruption, previously disqualified Imane
Image credits: imane_khelif_10
Controversy erupted on Thursday after Italy’s Angela Carini quit just 46 seconds into her round-of-16 bout with Imane after the Algerian landed the first clean punch of the fight.
Angela immediately turned to her team and opted against continuing, and the Italian soon collapsed to her knees in tears, The Independent reported on Friday (August 2).
The 25-year-old Italian could reportedly be heard telling her coach, “It’s not right, it’s not right,” and she later told reporters that she had never been hit so hard in her career.
Angela subsequently refused to shake Imane’s hand after she was announced as the winner in Paris.
The moment quickly turned viral on social media, with notable transphobic figures using Angela’s loss as an example of “trans people hijacking women’s sports.”
J.K Rowling, known to spread misinformation on trans issues, called the 25-year-old athlete a “man” on X (formerly known as Twitter) despite the fact that Imane was born a woman and has never identified as anything other than a cisgender woman.
Famous YouTuber Logan Paul issued an apology on Thursday after calling the fight between Angela and Imane “The purest form of evil unfolding right before our eyes.”
At the time, he also misgendered the Algerian athlete, writing: “A man was allowed to beat up a woman on a global stage, crushing her life’s dream while fighting for her deceased father.
“This delusion must end.”
Imane is next scheduled to fight Team Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on Saturday (3 August)
Image credits: luca_hamori
Upon learning that Imane had never been assigned male at birth and has never identified as a man, the 29-year-old internet star wrote on X: “I might be guilty of spreading misinformation along with the entirety of this app.
“Although she’s been previously disqualified for failing a ‘gender test’ and has XY chromosomes, some sources say Imane Khelif was born a biological woman.
“I stand by my sentiment that biological men should not compete against biological women in any sport and if you disagree you’re a sick f**k.”
Although there is no evidence to suggest that Imane was born anything other than a cisgender woman, and the IBA has not released more details about the tests she has failed, there have been many misconceptions circulating about identities and sex following Imane’s fight against Angela.
Image credits: imane_khelif_10
Sex can be much more complicated than it first seems, Scientific American wrote in 2018. According to the simple scenario, the presence or absence of a Y chromosome is what counts: with it, you are male, and without it, you are female.
But doctors have long known that some people straddle the boundary—their sex chromosomes say one thing, but their gonads (ovaries or testes) or sexual anatomy say another, the outlet reported.
These kinds of conditions are known as intersex conditions or differences or disorders of sex development (DSDs).
When genetics is taken into consideration, the boundary between the sexes becomes even blurrier.
Irish boxing champion Amy Broadhurst, who beat Imane in 2022, defended the Algerian athlete on social media
Image credits: amybroadhurst12
Scientists have reportedly identified many of the genes involved in the main forms of DSD and have uncovered variations in these genes that have subtle effects on a person's anatomical or physiological sex.
What's more, new technologies in DNA sequencing and cell biology are revealing that almost everyone is, to varying degrees, a patchwork of genetically distinct cells, some with a sex that might not match that of the rest of their body, Scientific American stated.
Some studies even suggest that the sex of each cell drives its behavior through a complicated network of molecular interactions.
“I think there's much greater diversity within male or female, and there is certainly an area of overlap where some people can't easily define themselves within the binary structure,” John Achermann, who studies sex development and endocrinology at University College London's Institute of Child Health, said.
Image credits: Irish Athletic Boxing Association
Irish boxing champion Amy Broadhurst, who beat Imane in 2022, defended the Algerian athlete on social media.
Taking to her X page on Wednesday (July 31), Amy wrote: “Have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif.
“Personally I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’.
“I [think] it’s the way she was born & that’s out of her control.
“The fact that she has been [beaten] by 9 females before says it all.”
The Olympic Committee addressed the IBA's "sudden" decision to disqualify Imane in 2023
Imane grew up in a rural village in Tiaret in western Algeria, where she was introduced to boxing after being forced to defend herself against boys picking fights with her, UNICEF reported in March 2024.
The athlete struggled financially and training for boxing came as a challenge, as she was unable to ask her father, who, besides being away working in the Sahara desert as a welder, did not approve of boxing for girls, UNICEF wrote.
Upon being honored as a UNICEF national ambassador, Imane stated: “I am deeply honored to be an ambassador for UNICEF.
“My message to young people is to follow your dreams.
“Don’t let obstacles come in your way, resist any obstacles and overcome them.
Image credits: amybroadhurst12
“My dream is to win a gold medal. If I win, mothers and fathers can see how far their children can go.
“I particularly want to inspire girls and children who are disadvantaged in Algeria.”
Imane is next scheduled to fight Team Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on Saturday (3 August) at 5:22 pm CET.
“I’m not scared,” Anna told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t care about the press story and social media. If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win.”
Sex can be much more complicated than it first seems, Scientific American wrote in 2018
The 23-year-old Hungarian athlete said she had avoided learning much about the controversy as it would be a distraction in her quest for gold, stating: “I’m trying to not use my phone before the fight.
“I don’t want to care about the comments or the story or the news.
“I just want to stay focused on myself. I did it before my last two fights, so I think this is the key, and we will see.”
Image credits: Focus Taiwan (CNA English News)
Anna reportedly found it hard to understand Angela’s decision to quit, as she said: “It was her choice, I don’t understand, because I thought every boxer’s mind is the same like mine, to never give up.
“But it was her choice. We don’t know what was the reason. It’s her life, but I know I want to do this in my own life.”
Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting is scheduled to fight Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova at 3:30 pm CET on Friday (2 August) in a round-of-16 bout at 57kg.
"She's perfectly eligible to compete in women's sports," a person commented on social media
