IOC doubles down as boxing gender controversy continues at Paris Olympics

The IOC has doubled down on the decision to allow two previously banned boxers to compete as women at the Olympics, declaring “every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination”.

Angela Carini (right) lasted just 46 seconds against Imane Khelif. Picture: Getty Images

The International Olympic Committee continues to ignore female boxer concerns and instead has blamed “current aggression against two athletes” on gender testing carried out by the International Boxing Association.

In a statement issued more than five hours after the Italian boxer Angela Camini couldn’t breathe because of a feared broken nose just 46 seconds fighting one of the controversial athletes, the Olympic bosses failed to address serious concerns of female boxers in the competition they have direct control of.

The women fear being injured or worse by being forced to box against testosterone-charged athletes with chromosomal variance, referred to as XY boxers, at these Olympics.

Angela Carini (left) lasted just 46 seconds against Imane Khelif. Picture: Getty Images

However on Thursday the IOC doubled down on their decision to allow the two boxers, Imane Khelif, of Algeria, and the Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting — both previously banned — to compete as women in Paris, based on their passports.

The IOC statement opened with line: “Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination’’ and claimed the two athletes were not given due process when they were previously banned by the boxing association.

The IOC says the two athletes had been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, but were then “the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA and towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process”.

Imane Khelif has been allowed to compete as a woman at the Paris Olympics. Picture: Getty Images

However the IBA minutes show the boxing board was concerned back in 2022 that independent laboratory testing of the two athletes showed they “do not meet one of the eligibility criteria to continue competing at the world championships”.

The minutes show that the results of testing in 2022 arrived too late to retrospectively disqualify the athletes.

But at the 2023 world championships the same testing was conducted at the request of the medical jury and the technical delegate, and a second independent laboratory produced the same results.

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The two boxers were immediately disqualified with Khelif thrown out just before the start of the gold medal bout, while Lin, who had already won the bronze medal, was stripped of her result. Both were given 21 days to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Lin did not appeal and Khelif withdrew an appeal.

The IOC said it was committed to protecting the human rights and that it was “saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving”.

Originally published as IOC doubles down as boxing gender controversy continues at Paris Olympics