What should have been a celebration of world-class boxers has turned into a gender controversy as the IBA chief demanded Imane Khelif prove she is a woman.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is now embroiled in a controversy surrounding the 2024 Paris Olympics.
This follows the 25-year-old’s disqualification from the 2023 World Championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test, despite being born and raised as female.
The International Boxing Association (IBA) stated that both Khelif and fellow Olympian Lin Yu-ting, a Taiwanese boxer fighting under ‘Chinese Taipei’, were disqualified due to the presence of an XY chromosome in their bodies.
Despite this, both Khelif and Yu-ting have been permitted to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games. Khelif’s opponent, Italian boxer Angela Carini, even called off their bout just 46 seconds in.
However, IBA chief Umar Kremlev has stood firm on the disqualification of the two women, labeling them both men during a press conference held on Monday, August 5, in Paris.
In a controversial statement, he called on the two women to ‘prove’ that they were indeed women.
He stated: “If athletes want to prove that they were born women, they have to do it themselves. They didn’t do that.
“We have no documents to prove this. If I was accused of not being a man, in that case I would bring over all the documents and go through all checks to prove that I am a real man. And I’m sitting here and I’m answering all your questions and I’m not scared of anything.”
Kremlev also criticized the International Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach, for allowing both women to compete in the Paris Olympics, arguing that it undermines fairness in women’s boxing.
Speaking in Russian during the conference, Kremlev said: “The tests show they were men. We don’t verify what they have between their legs. We don’t know if they were born like that, or if some changes were made.
“The second tests confirmed the first tests. If people have doubts, refer to them. They can make their own tests.”
This referenced two tests the athletes had undergone, one in India last year and another in Turkey in May 2022, which concluded that the boxer’s DNA consisted of XY chromosomes, according to IBA correspondence sent to the International Olympic Committee in June 2023.
In response, Khelif has called for a change in the rhetoric surrounding the gender issue and urged people to stop the bullying.
Speaking in Arabic to SNTV on August 4, Khelif said: “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.
“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.”