Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting will be allowed to compete in the Olympics despite being banned from the World Boxing Championships last year.
1.8. 23:40•Updated 1.8. 23:51
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
Boxing at the Paris Olympics is buzzing. The gender of two athletes participating in women’s boxing is in doubt.
Algerian Imane Khelif and Taiwan Lin Yu-ting were disqualified from the World Boxing Championships last year because they did not meet the eligibility requirements for the women’s competition.
The International Boxing Association IBA gave the aforementioned boxers a gender test, after which their performance was invalidated. The more detailed content of the gender test has not been made public.
The International Olympic Committee IOC allows Imane Khelifi and Lin Yu-ting to play sports at the Paris Olympics.
Kohu got new rounds on Thursday when Khelif’s Italian opponent Angela Carini gave up after only 46 seconds of the match in the 66 kg category.
– Unfair, the Italian, bursting into tears, shouted as he left the game.
At the end of the evening, the IOC decided it was best publish a bulletin on the matter.
The IOC attacks the boxing association
According to the IOC, all Olympic boxing participants meet the eligibility requirements and medical requirements in the rules.
In the press release, the boxing association IBA is attacked quite directly.
According to the IOC, Imane Khelifi and Lin Yu-ting are victims of the IBA’s arbitrary decision. The release says their performance at the World Cup was rejected without due process.
The criticism is based, among other things, on the fact that, according to the minutes on the IBA website, the general secretary and CEO of the sports federation were responsible for the decision of the World Championships.
The decision was subsequently ratified by the IBA board. In the same context, the board requested that a clear procedure should be created for gender testing in the future.
The IOC’s statement expresses surprise at the IBA’s decision, especially since the athletes targeted by the suspension have been competing for years in competitions under the IBA.
According to the IOC, the procedure is against good governance.
The sport’s Olympic status is under threat
The output of the International Olympic Committee is exceptional. The IOC rarely takes such a straightforward stance on issues.
The chaos of international boxing is also wrapped up in the whole mess. The IBA, mired in corruption, could no longer organize the Tokyo Olympic boxing, but the IOC organized the boxing events itself. This is also how it works at the Paris Olympics.
The IBA has also received a lot of criticism for not excluding Russia from the competitions.
Boxing may lose its Olympic status if a new international federation is not found for the sport.
The new sports association World Boxing, established in 2023, is not responsible for the sport at the Olympics, at least not yet. Finland joined the World Boxing Federation in October 2023.
The Algerian federation defends its boxer
Algeria’s Imane Khelif continues in the quarter-finals of the Olympic 66-kilogram series on Saturday in Hungary Luca Anna Hamoria against.
The Algerian Olympic Committee defended Khelif, saying the athlete was the target of unethical scoring and disapproval.
– The attacks on his personality and dignity are really unfair, especially when he is preparing to culminate his career at the Olympics.
Lin Yu-ting will start his Olympic career on Friday in the 57-kilogram division.