Bach: ‘Women boxing gender row, politically motivated culture war’

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President, Thomas Bach, has defended boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria, and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan amid controversy over their gender, stating that they both met the “clear definition of a woman” and underlined that “we are not going to engage in a politically motivated culture war.”

Bach’s statement comes amid a fierce gender row over the two in the boxing event at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics. The controversy erupted after Algeria’s Khelif defeated Italy’s Angela Carini in 46 seconds in the welterweight Round of 16. Boxer Lin Yu-Ting was another athlete at the centre of the controversy alongside Khelif. The Chinese Taipei fighter also won her women’s featherweight (-57kg) unanimous decision over Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.

Bach condemned the “hate speech” directed at both athletes and insisted there was no doubt about their status as women. “We have two female boxers who were born as women, who were raised as women, who have women’s passports, and who have been competing as women for many years,” Bach said. “That’s the clear definition of a woman.

“What we see now is that some people want to hijack the definition of a woman,” the German said. “I can only invite them to come up with a new definition based on the science of who is a woman and how can someone who was born, grew up, and competed as a woman not be considered a woman. If you come up with something, we are willing to look at it, but we are not going to engage in a politically motivated culture war”, he added.

Bach insisted the controversy was not a transgender issue and called for respect for female boxers. “Let me say that what is happening in this context on social media with all this hate speech, aggression and abuse fuelled by this agenda is totally unacceptable,” he said. “Putting an end to (this dispute) depends more on you than on us,” he told reporters.

Khelif and Lin were allowed to compete in the women’s section of the Paris 2024 Olympics despite being disqualified from last year’s world championships after failing unspecified gender tests. The IOC uses the gender on the passport as the eligibility criterion. “I think I have explained this many times. I would ask everybody to respect these women. Respect them as women, respect them as human beings, and stay away from the confusion that some people want to create,” he said.

“We’re not talking about a trans issue,” Bach said. “It’s about a woman taking part in a women’s event.”

He added that it was not a case of DSD, but IOC officials later said he had misspoken and meant to say “trans” in what appeared to be a serious error. So they had to issue a correction on social media to avoid further controversy between what he said and what he allegedly meant.

The IOC president also criticized the International Boxing Association (IBA) for conducting a “smear campaign” against France, the Games, and the IOC. “What we have seen from the Russian side and, in particular, from the IBA, whose recognition we had to withdraw for many reasons, is that long before these Games, they have launched a smear campaign against France, against the Games, against the IOC,” he said.

Both Khelif and Lin competed at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games and failed to win any medals. Both fighters have been competing in women’s boxing for several years, but the International Boxing Association (IBA) – which conducted the 2023 trials – said the duo “did not meet the eligibility criteria to participate in the women’s competition”, citing as yet unspecified and untested gender tests.

In June last year, the IOC, which administers the sport in Paris, stripped the IBA of its status as the world governing body of boxing. According to Bach, “They have made a number of comments on this which I don’t want to repeat. If you want to get an idea of the credibility of the information coming from this unrecognised federation, I can only suggest that you look at the comments they have made recently and make up your mind,” he added, referring to IBA President, Umar Kremlev of Russia.