Paris 2024: IOC clears two ‘biological male’ boxers to compete as women

Two boxers, Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan who were banned from the 2023 world championships for being deemed biologically male have been cleared to compete at Paris 2024 as women by the International Olympic Commission (IOC).

The duo were disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships in March 2023 in New Delhi, after a series of DNA tests were ordered amid concerns over the sex of some of those taking part.

At the time Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), claimed the tests had proven the athletes – including Khelif and Yu-Ting – had ‘XY chromosomes’.

He added that they uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretend to be women.

But the IBA has been stripped of the right to run Olympic boxing competitions amid concerns over governance and the IOC say all athletes involved are eligible to compete, wih current rules viewed as more relaxed than those of the IBA.

Following last year’s ban, the Algerian Olympic Committee claimed the disqualification was part of a ‘conspiracy’ to stop them from winning a gold meal and said ‘medical reasons’ were behind high testosterone levels.

But IOC President Thomas Bach said both Khelif and Yu-Ting meet eligibility criteria and will box over the coming days.

After the disqualification, Mexico’s Brianda Tamara came forward with her own experience of fighting Khelif earlier in the tournament.

“When I fought with her I felt very out of my depth,’ she wrote on X. “Her blows hurt me a lot, I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realized.”

Khelif, a welterweight, is due to fight Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday at this year’s Olympics while Yu-Ting, a featherweight, is in action on Friday.