At the centre of an escalating dispute about gender eligibility at the Olympics, an Algerian boxer has labelled her critics as bullies. This comes as Umar Kremlev, the Russian head of the International Boxing Association, unleashed yet another slew of criticism at a disorderly press event.
Imane Khelif, who has secured a minimum of a bronze medal in her upcoming bout on Tuesday, expressed her hope that her recent struggles would result in a gold win. She has sent a call to action to global audiences to respect Olympic values and the Olympic Charter, urging them to stop harassing all sports personalities which could potentially have serious mental and emotional impacts.
Khelif, an accomplished welterweight, along with Lin Yu-ting, a Taiwanese featherweight who also won a assured bronze, are competing in Paris. This is despite claims by the IBA that they violate gender eligibility guidelines established last year.
Their participation made the headlines when Angela Carini, an Italian boxer, forfeited her fight against Khelif just 46 seconds into the match, alleging she had never received such intense blows.
The IBA’s testing methods on Khelif and Lin has been deemed untrustworthy by the IOC, which removed the association’s governing body status last year due to allegations of corruption and integrity breaches.
IBA arranged a media briefing in Paris on Monday aiming to clarify their stance, however it was overshadowed by Umar Kremlev, who participated through a video-call from a presumed Moscow office. Kremlev not only insulted Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee chief, and criticised the Games’ opening ceremony as offensive to Christians and Muslims worldwide, but also maintained that the evaluations done by his team discovered male levels of testosterone in the two boxers.
Both IBA’s medical professional, Dr. Ioannis Filippatos, and CEO Chris Roberts, who previously served as the head of boxing in Scotland, later confirmed that the athletes underwent chromosome testing instead of testosterone testing. Roberts informed the media that both boxers were found unsuitable based on the results of these tests. Khelif and Lin had two different blood tests conducted. The first occurred in May 2022 and was marked by irregularities discovered by a lab in Istanbul. The second test, eight months later, was conducted during the world championships, after which the IBA deemed both fighters ineligible for the women’s event.
Roberts couldn’t provide more specific details on the test results, citing warnings from the organising committees of Algeria and Taiwan. Roumaysa Boualam, Khelif’s Algerian colleague and the first female boxer from her country to compete in the 2021 Olympic Games, rejected the circulating rumours about Khelif at a press conference where she proudly displayed her national flag. She both expressed her support for Khelif and clarified that this support was shared by all the Algerians present, including both fans and journalists who are aware of the truth. The aim, she added, was for Khelif to clinch the gold.
According to The IOC, Khelif and Lin, who were registered as females at birth and possess passports that identify them as such, are qualified to participate in Paris. Regarding the controversy, Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, recommended a clear policy to prevent such situations. Having served on the British Boxing Board of Control as an administrative steward for five years and having daughters himself, he expressed his sentiment on the issue while stressing the importance of having a clear policy on such matters.
“The paramount concern should be to develop a policy, establish clarity and unquestionable firmness in it, particularly because it acts as your guiding light. Absence of this could lead you into problematic situations.”
The IBA has faced censure for accepting patronage from Gazprom, a Russian company under state control. In response to queries about IBA’s resources, Roberts informed journalists that a comprehensive audit would be disclosed in a Cuba conference. When pressed about his personal income, his retort was, “It’s not your concern.” – Guardian