Two boxers – Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan, have reportedly been cleared by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to fight in the 2024 Paris Olympics despite their previous disqualification from the Women’s World Boxing Championships in March of 2023 after DNA tests were ordered amid concerns over their sex.
The IOC said on Monday that both boxers satisfied the eligibility criteria to compete.
According to the Daily Mail:
At the time, [2023] Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), claimed the tests had proven the athletes – including Khelif and Yu-Ting, who will both fight later this week – had ‘XY chromosomes’. He added that they ‘uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretend to be women.’
But the IBA has been stripped of the right to run Olympic boxing competitions amid concerns over governance and the IOC say all athletes involved are eligible to compete, wih current rules viewed as more relaxed than those of the IBA.
Algerian Olympic officials were quick to criticize the testing, claiming that it was part of a “conspiracy” to prevent the African nation from winning a gold medal.
Someone who is not under any illusion about the potentially dangerous threat Khelif poses in the ring to female fighters is Mexico’s Brianda Tamara, who wrote about how overwhelmed she was when facing Khelif.
‘When I fought with her I felt very out of my depth,’ she wrote on X. ‘Her blows hurt me a lot, I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realized.’
Both Khelif and Yu-Ting are believed to have Differences in Sexual Development (DSD), a condition where genitalia is atypical to a person’s chromosomes, Reduxx reports.
Former Olympic swimmer and women’s sports advocate Nancy Hogshead responded to reports of the IOC’s decision to clear the trans fighters by reminding all about the differential in punching power between males and females.
@ImaneKhelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan are scheduled to compete in women’s Olympic boxing — despite being disqualified last year for having XY chromosomes, the male phenotype. Let’s remind ourselves that males – however they identify – pack a punch that is 162% more powerful than women – THE biggest performance gap bt men and women. Gender ideology will get women KILLED..@ImaneKhelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan are scheduled to compete in women’s Olympic boxing 🥊— despite being disqualified last year for having XY chromosomes, the male phenotype. Let’s remind ourselves that males - however they identify - pack a punch that is 162% more… https://t.co/ylGAvJ8Mk6 pic.twitter.com/SwnWslvHZ5
— Nancy Hogshead, JD, Oly (@Hogshead3Au) July 29, 2024
Khelif is scheduled to fight Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday, and Yu-Ting will fight on Friday.
