Bulgaria turns up heat on IOC as Imane Khelif’s next opponent claims the Algerian is a man
The Paris Olympics’ gender-eligibility debate has exploded. Imane Khelif’s next opponent believes the Algerian is not a woman, while Bulgaria has paraded a letter of protest for the world to see.
Editor's note: This article refers to Algerian Imane Khelif as an "intersex boxer" . International Boxing Association (IBA) officials have said genetic testing of Khelif has shown XY chromosomes. The International Olympic Committee determines eligibility by competitors' passports - different criteria to the IBA.
The Bulgarian boxing camp has savaged the IOC and paraded a hand-written sign of protest to the world amid calls for an XY athlete to be kicked out of the Olympics if documents show she is a biological male.
Bulgaria’s fury at losing to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-Ting came as a second intersex boxer, Algeria’s Imane Khelif, was sensationally accused of being a man by her upcoming Thai opponent.
The biggest issue of the Paris Games – the gender-eligibility powderkeg – took another political twist on Sunday when the Bulgarian team challenged the IOC to prove Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-Ting is a woman.
Yu-Ting and a second XY athlete, Khelif, have been cleared by the IOC to fight against women in Paris, despite being disqualified at last year’s world championships by the IBA for failing sex tests.
Khelif secured at least bronze on Saturday and Yu-Ting followed suit 24 hours later by disposing of Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva, who later refused media interviews as she stormed off in disgust.
But her Bulgarian coaching unit did the talking with a statement that lobbed a biological hand grenade into the IOC bunker.
They walked through the media area holding two signs, written on paper minutes before the bout, with one reading: “I’m XX ... save woman (sic) sport”.
XX is the female chromosome. A second note, written by Bulgaria coach Borislav Georgiev on behalf of Staneva, read: “I only want to play with women ... I am XX.”
Georgiev held the sign for a minute as swarming media took photos of the messages.
Georgiev later confirmed he penned the messages, with the blessing of his fighter, saying the protest, in his view, did not just represent the sentiments of Bulgarian boxing, but every woman in the sport.
The Bulgarian camp wants the IOC to produce evidence that Yu-Ting and Khelif are women and to ban them immediately from the Games with gold medals looming.
“If she (Yu-Ting) has the XY chromosome, she should be kicked out,” Georgiev said via an interpreter.
“I wrote it. I think that this is the message ... and maybe this is the message from every single woman boxer from the tournament.
“This is not correct.
“It’s not a good look for boxing. Whether they are men or women ... ask them if they have official documents from the IBA (International Boxing Association) when they were disqualified from the world championships.
“Let them (IOC) ask.
“Their federations (from Chinese Taipei and Algeria) must have official documents from IBA that they are legal.”
Asked whether Yu-Ting and Khelif should supply medical records to the IOC immediately, Georgiev said: “Yes, show the documents about the gender.”
Yu-Ting progressed to the semi-finals after scoring a unanimous decision against Staneva. The Bulgarians have had a gutful.
“For me, Svetlana won both matches against Lin,” Georgiev said. “It was absurd work by the judges – they robbed us.”
Amid the biological firestorm, Yu-Ting is holding her nerve.
While Khelif dodged the media in a fusion of rage and tears on Saturday, Yu-Ting broke her silence, saying she had suspended social media.
Riding a siege mentality, the XY athlete vowed to silence critics by winning gold.
“A lot of people cheered me on in Paris and also in my country,” she said.
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