World Boxing bosses to set guidelines on gender in a bid to save the sport for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
The gender-eligibility firestorm was the biggest issue of the Paris Games and now World Boxing bosses will draft a new policy to ensure the sport survives for the 2028 Olympics.
Olympics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Olympics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
World Boxing bosses will devise a policy on XY athletes fighting women in the wake of the gender-eligibility debacle in Paris that could see the famous sport axed for the 2028 Olympics.
The Paris Olympics was marred by the biological brouhaha in which Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting won gold in their respective weight classes amid a firestorm of debate about their eligibility.
The International Boxing Association disqualified Khelif and Yu-Ting from last year’s world championships for failing sex tests – but the IOC cleared the duo for Paris because they are listed as females on their passports.
Rivals protested throughout the tournament, headlined by the Bulgarian camp, which penned a handwritten sign saying: “I only want to play with XX women”.
The IOC took over the running of boxing at these Olympics, axing the IBA amid corruption concerns and installing the ad hoc Paris Boxing Unit (PBU).
But the sport won’t be at Los Angeles in 2028 unless a new governing body is found.
World Boxing shapes as the sport’s saviour.
Set up in April 2023, World Boxing is determined to rescue the sport, starting by addressing the gender-eligibility conundrum that hovered like a dark cloud of suspicion over the Paris tournament.
There is a view Khelif and Yu-Ting should not be allowed to compete against women because IBA testing showed they had male biology.
World Boxing vowed to sort out the gender mess.
“It (the XY athlete saga) is one of the priorities,” World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst said. “The first thing we are doing is assigning our medical committee to make a policy for World Boxing and how we are going to deal with these kinds of matters.”
Asked if Khelif and Yu-Ting should be banned from fighting women, Boris van der Vorst said: “Not you or I are going to decide whether they are eligible or not. The PBU is now in charge (of Paris boxing), so it’s not up to me to comment on how they’re doing things.
“But post-games, our medical commission will come up with a policy (on gender eligibility) for World Boxing.
“The most important thing is safety above all, okay?”
Van der Vorst’s critique on safety is compelling because medical data shows an XY athlete punches with 162 per cent more force than a woman.
Khelif was supremely dominant in Paris, not dropping a single round with a single judge in four wins – headlined by the 25-year-old’s 46-second demolition of Italy’s Angela Carini.
Carini was later reduced to tears, saying: “I have never been hit so hard in my life.”
A defiant Khelif said after her gold medal win that she is a woman and belongs in XX competition.
Van der Vorst refused to be critical of the IOC for allowing Khelif and Yu-Ting to compete, but said boxing cannot afford more drama if it wants to survive for the 2028 Olympics.
“I cannot say (if Khelif or Yu-Ting are females), do you have any other evidence? Do you have the DNA? I don’t have it,” he said.
“What I’m trying to say is that we (World Boxing), because of the wrongdoings of the previous International Federation, unfortunately, we are not in charge.
“The reason I’m here in Paris is to do everything possible to keep boxing in the Olympics.”
The IOC has set a deadline of early 2025 for a new organisation to show they have the bona fides to run boxing.
TRAINER REVEALS HORMONE REGIMEN
One of Paris Olympic gold medallist Imane Khelif’s trainers has revealed the controversial boxer has been taking hormone treatment for more than a year to suppress testosterone levels.
Georges Cazorla, a sports scientist from Nice who works with Khelif, told the French magazine Le Point that the Algerian boxer was “devastated to suddenly discover that she might not be a girl” after genetic testing by the International Boxing Association in 2023.
He said Khelif’s testosterone levels have been suppressed to levels of a woman.
The revelation backs IBA claims that they had carried out genetic DNA testing in 2022 and in 2023, revealing that Khelif had male XY chromosomes. It also supports the worries of other female boxers that their safety was at risk inside the ring.
The news puts further pressure on the IOC president Thomas Bach, who has announced he will stand down next year after serving 12 years.
Bach has faced global condemnation for the IOC’s acceptance of a passport being used to determine who is eligible fight against women.
Other IOC members have been shocked that Bach has been unable to counter claims that the IOC has put the pursuit of a woke ideology above women’s safety.
Intriguingly, one contender for top IOC job, World Athletics chief Seb Coe, has fiercely defended the female category throughout the Games. “The opportunity has risen and I will give it serious thought,” Coe said.
This comes as the IOC was told of Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting the XY tests results 14 months ago. It is unclear if Khelif’s attempts to reduce testosterone levels were approved by the IOC.
More Coverage
Originally published as World Boxing bosses to set guidelines on gender in a bid to save the sport for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
‘Never had’: Bruce loses it over Gout Gout
Legendary broadcaster Bruce McAvaney has seen it all in Australian sports but our latest rising athletics star is a different beast.
‘World at his feet’: Australia’s never seen anything like Gout Gout
Bruce McAvaney has seen so much in Australian track and field throughout his broadcasting career, but nothing compares to what teen sprinting sensation Gout Gout is doing at his age.