IOC was told about boxer’s failed sex test a year ago

The International Olympic Committee has admitted it was informed in June last year that one of the boxers at the centre of the gender storm in Paris had failed a sex test to fight in women’s competitions, but on Sunday claimed the testing was flawed and illegitimate.

The IOC said it had received a letter from the International Boxing Association in June 2023, weeks before the IBA was stripped of Olympic recognition because of governance concerns, alleging that DNA testing had concluded Algeria’s Imane Khelif was not eligible to compete in women’s boxing.

However, IOC spokesman Mark Adams refused to divulge the contents of the letter and dismissed the credibility of the tests.

“Those tests are not legitimate tests,” Adams said in Paris on Sunday.

“We did receive a letter ... [but] the method of the testing, the idea of the testing, which happened overnight [in 2023], none of it was legitimate. These are severe attacks on the rights of the women involved.”

Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei are assured of medals in Paris after winning quarter-final bouts on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Khelif burst into tears after defeating her Hungarian opponent to seal a semi-final spot, declaring afterwards: “I am a female.”

Lin beat Svetlana Staneva of Bulgaria by a unanimous decision in a featherweight quarter-final fight on Sunday.

Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championships in Delhi three days after she won an early-round bout with Azalia Amineva, a previously unbeaten Russian prospect.

Imane Khelif burst into tears aftering winning her quarter-final bout in Paris.Credit: Getty Images

The IOC claims both fighters were unfairly targeted. “The test was, as far as we can see, taken arbitrarily. One of the boxers had beaten a Russian boxer,” Adams said.

“But the very fact that the decision to do the test was taken on the spot there, [for] what purpose, what the test was for I don’t know. We managed to do away with sex testing in the last century. I’m not sure what the foundation for the testing was.

“They were two athletes who were tested in the middle of a world championship, carted off and tested. As far as we know they were the only two,” he added. “There were suspicions against them and if there are suspicions against every athlete we go down a very bad route.”

The IBA was contacted for comment by this masthead.

The IOC conceded that it could be influenced by the outcome of a case before the European Court of Human Rights involving South African runner Caster Semenya in shaping future rules. In boxing, because the IBA is not running the Olympic competition, the IOC accepts the gender on an athlete’s passport.

Semenya, the dual Olympic champion in the women’s 800m, was subsequently prevented from competing in her preferred events under World Athletics rules unless she took medication to bring her testosterone levels within the allowed range.

“That is a specific case about a specific [athlete] in a specific sport… Federations will study that case,” Adams said.

“This isn’t a subject where there is a simple black and white answer. Should someone come up with scientific consensus then we would be happy to work with that consensus. It’s a minefield to work in and we continue to try to deliver safe and fair and inclusive sport. We will take the findings of that court ... into account.”

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