Boxers who failed gender eligibility tests at world championships to compete against women at Paris Olympics

Two boxers have caused an uproar after being allowed to compete against women at the Paris Olympics despite having previously failed gender eligibility tests. Both have won gold medals against women at different international boxing competitions.

Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu‑ting of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) both were disqualified at the 2023 world championships in New Delhi after event organizers — the International Boxing Association — determined the fighters were ineligible.

Khelif, 25, was disqualified before a gold medal bout while Lin, 28, lost a bronze.

Reuters said IBA President Umar Kremlev told Russian outlet TASS at the time that the boxers had "XY chromosomes." Males have XY chromosomes; females have XX chromosomes.

'It's shocking that they were actually allowed to get this far, what is going on?'

The IBA has since told the Guardian that it made its decision "following a comprehensive review" and that the decision was "intended to uphold the fairness and integrity of the competition."

However, the International Olympic Committee decided to drop the IBA as a governing body in June 2023 and put the IOC's Paris 2024 Boxing Unit in charge. The Paris Boxing Unit's rules have been described as more relaxed, but the IOC still noted in its internal system that the two boxers had prior disqualifications.

The IOC said Khelif was "disqualified just hours before her gold medal showdown against Yang Liu at the 2023 world championships in New Delhi, India, after her elevated ­levels of testosterone failed to meet the eligibility criteria," the Guardian reported. The internal system also acknowledged Lin was "stripped of her bronze medal after failing to meet eligibility requirements based on the results of a biochemical test."

In response to controversy, Khelif reportedly blamed a "conspiracy" against Algeria as the reason for any accusations.

"People have conspired against Algeria so that its flag doesn't get raised, and it doesn't win the gold medal," Khelif said.

The IOC has answered questions surrounding the issue, stating that "all athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition's eligibility and entry regulations."

"The PBU endeavored to restrict amendments to minimize the impact on athletes' preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games," the IOC added.

'It is sick and deeply troubling that the IOC is allowing this kind of gender manipulation to take place.'

The governing body also said that the PBU decided on the boxing rules based on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were derived from the Rio 2016 rules.

But as videos of Khelif fighting women in the ring began circulating online, viewers from around the world started chiming in with questions surrounding the eligibility of the boxers.

Former world champion boxer Barry McGuigan asked: "It's shocking that they were actually allowed to get this far, what is going on?"

NCAA swimming champion Kaitlynn Wheeler told Blaze News, "It is sick and deeply troubling that the IOC is allowing this kind of gender manipulation to take place."

Wheeler, who works as a women's sports advocate and an ambassador for the Riley Gaines Center, added that the United States "and every other country should immediately boycott and refuse to allow their athletes' lives to be put in harms way."

According to NBC News, "Khelif and Lin have both always competed as women, and there’s no indication that either identifies as transgender or intersex, the latter referring to those born with sex characteristics that don’t fit strictly into the male-female gender binary."

Khelif is set for a round of 16 preliminary boxing match Thursday against Italian Angela Carini in the women's 66 kg category.

Lin will fight Uzbekistan's Sitora Turdibekova in the 57 kg round of 16 on Friday.

This story has been updated.

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