IOC faces legal challenge over Imane Khelif’s Olympic fights in wake of Donald Trump order
Khelif and Lin Yu-ting were embroiled in a gender row at the 2024 Games, where each boxer won a gold medal
The International Boxing Association (IBA) has said it will lodge a complaint against the International Olympic Committee (IOC), relating to Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting’s fights at the 2024 Games.
Algeria’s Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin each won a gold medal in boxing in Paris, but their victories were overshadowed by a gender row, with the IBA claiming the fighters had failed gender eligibility tests at the 2022 World Championships.
The IBA previously oversaw Olympic boxing but was dropped by the IOC ahead of the 2020 Games in Tokyo. The IOC, which organised Olympic boxing in Tokyo and set up the Paris Boxing Unit last summer, parted ways with the IBA over concerns relating to the organisation’s finances and links to Russia, and due to fears of corruption.
While Khelif and Lin were born and raised as women and have never identified as transgender or intersex, the IOC is now facing a legal challenge from the IBA, which says it was prompted by an executive order by US President Donald Trump.
Per Trump’s “Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports” order: “It shall be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth [...] Many sport-specific governing bodies have no official position or requirements regarding trans-identifying athletes. Others allow men to compete in women’s categories if these men reduce the testosterone in their bodies below certain levels or provide documentation of “sincerely held” gender identity. These policies are unfair to female athletes and do not protect female safety.”
An IBA statement released on Monday (10 February) read: “[The] IBA prides itself on being the sole International Federation committed to safeguarding the rights of the athletes worldwide and upholding the integrity of female sports. The executive order of USA President Donald Trump ‘Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports’ proves that IBA stood firm, rightfully protecting female boxers from unfair competition.
“In light of the gender eligibility issues surrounding boxers in 2022 and 2023, the IBA proactively conducted all necessary testing and subsequently banned individuals deemed ineligible from participating in women’s competitions. Despite notifying the IOC about the disqualification of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, the IOC disregarded this critical information, allowing both athletes to compete in the Qualifiers and ultimately at the 2024 Olympics, where they secured gold medals, denying opportunities to deserving female athletes.
“As a result, IBA is filing an official complaint with the Attorney General of Switzerland, Mr Stefan Blattler, regarding the IOC’s actions that facilitated the participation of these ineligible athletes in the 2024 Olympic boxing tournament in Paris.” While Khelif and Lin reportedly failed the IBA’s gender eligibility tests, the IOC deemed both boxers eligible to compete at the Olympics.
The IBA statement continued: “According to the Swiss law, any action or inaction that poses a safety risk to competition participants warrants investigation and may serve as grounds for criminal prosecution. In addition, similar complaints are to be filed with the Attorneys General of France and the USA.” The IOC is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
IBA president Umar Kremlev added: “[The] IBA will provide free-of-charge comprehensive legal support to our boxers in these lawsuits, as this is a clear violation of human rights, an outrage towards the female boxers, and simply a crime that should be punished accordingly. In my personal opinion, [IOC president] Thomas Bach should take the full responsibility for this, as he was in charge when it happened, and he needs to compensate the damages caused, if the court or any other instance rules this.’”
An IOC spokesperson told The Independent: “This IBA statement is just another example of [the] IBA’s campaign against the IOC, which is ongoing since their recognition was withdrawn by the IOC for issues related to governance, judging and refereeing – as well as questions around their finances.
“Here are the facts: The two female athletes mentioned by [the] IBA are not transgender athletes. They were born as women, were raised as women, and have competed in the women’s category for their entire boxing careers, including at previous international competitions such as the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, when both of them did not win a medal. They also competed in IBA World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments before they became victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were disqualified, without any due process.
“Neither athlete had a perfect track record coming into Paris. Lin Yu-Ting, for example, lost her last bout before arriving in Paris. Neither athlete medalled at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, where Imane Khelif was defeated in the quarter-finals by Unanimous Decision. Lin Yu-ting lost her first fight in the round of 16. Additionally, neither athlete has more Referee Stop Contest (RSC) victories compared to other successful female boxers.
“Across their careers, Yu-Ting has won only one of 40 bouts by RSC (3 per cent) and Khelif has won five of 37 (14 per cent). By comparison, other successful boxers arrived in Paris having won up to 28 per cent of their career bouts and 33 per cent of their most recent bouts by RSC. Such data is relevant when evaluating whether Yu-Ting and Khelif had a heightened performance advantage and/or safety risk compared to other successful boxers in the women’s category.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments