Two fighters whose biological sex is in dispute defeated their female opponents over the weekend, fueling the firestorm over fairness in women’s boxing that has roiled the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, 28, who was disqualified over a failed sex test last year by the International Boxing Association, on Sunday bested Bulgaria’s Svetlana Kamenova Staneva in the women’s 57 kilogram quarterfinals.
The day before, Algeria’s Imane Khelif, 25, advanced to the 66-kilogram semifinals in a unanimous decision over Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori.
The Algerian left the ring in tears following days of international debate over rules that let the fighters compete in the Olympics despite being previously disqualified from the world championships.
The victories mean that the two boxers are guaranteed a medal, thanks to Olympic rules awarding bronze to both losing semifinalists.
Enthusiastic fans turned out to support Khelif and Hamori, but the fight was far less dramatic than Khelif’s bout Thursday against Italy’s Angela Carini, who conceded the match in the first round after hard hits to the face.
Hamori, 23, and Khelif knocked fists and had a brief friendly exchange after the fight, even though the Algerian Olympic and Sports Committee filed a complaint over social media posts disparaging Khelif, some of which reportedly appeared on Hamori’s Instagram page.
“The International Olympic Committee has issued a final apology to violators with an order to delete every post that concerns our heroine Iman Khalif,” the committee posted on Facebook. “We reserve the right to prosecute everyone who participated in the heinous campaign against the heroine Iman Khalif.”
The Hungarian Boxing Association filed a protest ahead of Saturday’s bout, contesting the decision to let Khelif participate in women’s boxing, according to The Associated Press, with one association member calling it “unacceptable and outrageous” because the Algerian is a man fighting against women.
The IOC has defended Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, both of whom were declared eligible for Olympic boxing after being disqualified from the 2024 Women’s World Championships for failing a sex test by the International Boxing Association.
IOC President Thomas Bach stepped into the dispute Saturday, insisting at the daily press briefing that “there was never any doubt about them being a woman.”
“Let’s be very clear here,” Mr. Bach said. “We are talking about women’s boxing. We have two boxers who were born as women, have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman, and who have competed for many years as a woman. And this is the clear definition of a woman.”
He also decried the social media criticism aimed at the boxers as “hate speech,” calling it “unacceptable.”
Amar Khelif, the fighter’s father, told Reuters that his child is a girl, citing an “official family document” showing the newborn’s sex listed as “female.”
“Having such a daughter is an honor because she is a champion, she honored me and I encourage her and I hope she will get the medal in Paris,” he said. “Imane is a little girl that has loved sport since she was 6 years old.”
Disputing his assertion was Istvan Kovacs, the European vice president of World Boxing and former secretary-general of the International Boxing Association, who said the IOC was warned in 2022 about the gender status of Khelif and other boxers.
“The problem was not with the level of Khelif’s testosterone, because that can be adjusted nowadays, but with the result of the gender test, which clearly revealed that the Algerian boxer is biologically male,” Kovacs said in an interview with the Hungarian publication Magyar Nemzet.
“The problem was not with the level of Khelif’s testosterone…but with the result of the gender test, which clearly revealed that the Algerian boxer is biologically male” - VP of World Boxing Organization
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) August 3, 2024
Anyone else want to gaslight us and say these men are women? https://t.co/UivthVhySk
The IBA said it stands by its 2023 decision, saying the disqualification of the athletes was based on “two trustworthy tests conducted on both athletes in two independent laboratories.”
The association added, “The IBA will never support any boxing bouts between the genders, as the organization puts the safety and well-being of our athletes first. We are protecting our women and their rights to compete in the ring against equal rivals, and we will defend and support them in all instances; their hopes and dreams must never be taken away by organizations unwilling to do the right thing under difficult circumstances.”
The IOC has insisted that “this is not a transgender issue,” fueling speculation that the two boxers were born with a Difference of Sexual Development known as 46, XY, meaning they were born with ambiguous genitalia but underwent male puberty and produce male-level testosterone.
Neither the IBA nor the IOC has addressed the DSD question, but Algerian Football Media compared Khelif to the South African runner Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic track and field gold medalist who unsuccessfully challenged the 2018 World Athletics restrictions on athletes with DSD 46, XY.
Khelif’s victory prompted cheers from the Algerian national soccer team, which posted on X that it was “an incredible win by Imane Khelif to shut up all the haters” as well as criticism from organizations opposed to biological males in female sports.
“Imane Khelif wins again,” said Fair Play for Women on X. “Yet another female boxer punched in the face by male and cheated out of a medal. The IOC [stood] by and let this happen.”
Khelif is scheduled to fight Tuesday against Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng.
The IOC withdrew its recognition of the IBA as the Olympic boxing authority in June 2023 over issues including judging disputes and finances.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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