Olympics body makes defiant call on Imane Khelif amid gender storm around boxer at Paris Games

The International Olympic Committee has defended its decision to allow two female boxers to compete in Paris after they were disqualified from the world championships last year for failing a gender eligibility test. A storm has erupted around Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, after opponent Angela Carini sensationally quit their fight after just 46 seconds on Thursday night, with the Italian saying post-fight she needed to "safeguard her life".

The 2023 world championships were run by the International Boxing Association, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is in charge of the boxing competition at the Games - and the rules around eligibility are different. The IBA has eligibility criteria that prevent athletes with male XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events.

Khelif was born a female but is believed to have a genetic abnormality that causes higher testosterone levels. Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu‑ting have always competed in female events and lived as women all their lives.

The IBA was stripped of its recognition by the IOC last year over governance and finance issues. The Olympic body is running the boxing competition in Paris itself, and allowed Khelif and Yu‑ting to participate.

The IOC said the pair were facing “aggression” because of an “arbitrary decision” by the IBA. “Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process,” the IOC said. “According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO.”

The IOC said its rules of eligibility were based on those of the 2021 Games in Tokyo and cannot be changed during a competition. "The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure, especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years," the body said. "The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving. Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination.”

But the IBA has condemned the “inconsistencies in eligibility” at the Paris Games. “Both Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting post testing, did not meet the required eligibility criteria to compete within the female category of our respective events,” the body said. “The urgent nature of the decision (to disqualify the boxers) was justified, as the safety of our boxers is our top priority.”

Imane Khelif's next opponent responds

Khelif will now take on Hungarian fighter Anna Luca Hamori in the quarter-finals on Saturday. But Hamori isn't shying away from the challenge.

"I'm not scared," Hamori said, adding she couldn't understand why Carini had thrown in the towel. "I don't care about the story ... if she or he is a man it'll be a bigger victory for me if I will win. So let's do it. It's going to be a great fight and I hope I will win. I can't wait."

Khelif and Yu‑ting were both disqualified from the world championships in 2023, but the IBA has clarified that neither fighter underwent testosterone examinations. The test that was used to determine their gender eligibility remains unspecified.

Australian fighter Marissa Williamson lost to Hamori and avoided a bout against Khelif as a result. Williamson has backed her Australia boxing captain Caitlin Parker, who labelled it "dangerous" for Khelif to be competing.

That view has been backed by the United Nations' special rapporteur on violence against women and girls. In Thursday night's fight, Carini's headgear became dislodged twice after being hit by punches, before she quit and refused to shake Khelif's hand after the decision was announced.

She dropped to her knees and was crying in the ring before departing. "She felt pain in the nose and said to me, 'I don't want to fight more'," her Italian coach Emanuele Renzini told reporters afterwards. "People say, 'Don't go, it's dangerous, she's a man'. Maybe it's this (why she quit). It's not my decision, It's a difficult decision. I don't want to be the CEO at the moment."

Controversy erupts around boxer Imane Khelif at Paris Olympics

Khelif dodged the media as she briskly exited the arena, while Carini declared she was injured and wasn't staging a protest. "I felt a strong pain in my nose and ... could no longer finish the match," she said.

"I am heartbroken because I am a fighter, my father taught me to be a warrior. I felt all the controversy that there has been ... that was not something that stopped me or blocked me mentally."

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Renzini and Italy's boxing team leader Alberto Tappa were seen in discussion with IOC officials in the hours after Carini's fight. Tappa said: "We hope for the future that it will be more clear, for all the teams. We are not lucky (to draw Khelif), in the first bout, (but) you have to fight. The pressure ... a lot of people from Italy said not to fight, to protest."

Lin will begin her campaign on Friday after winning IBA world championships in 2018 and 2022. But she was stripped of a bronze medal last year because the governing body claimed she failed to meet unspecified eligibility requirements in a biochemical test.

with AAP