Gold medalist Algeria’s Imane Khelif kisses her medal for the women’s 66 kg final boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics. (AP)
A leaked medical report of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif — who claimed a gold medal in women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics recently — has re-ignited a war of words between the International Boxing Association (IBA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IBA chief demanded that IOC president Thomas Bach ‘kneel and apologise to the boxing community and to those girls who have been beaten and abused’.
The global governing body of boxing, the IBA, has been at loggerheads with the IOC for years now, especially after it was not allowed to conduct the boxing event at the Paris Olympics by the IOC.
It was at these Olympics in Paris that the participation of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif became a flashpoint as the IBA had barred two boxers (Lin Yu-ting from Chinese Taipei besides Khelif) from competing in the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023 in New Delhi. But the IOC deemed both boxers to be eligible.
Now a leaked medical report, published in Le Correspondant, allegedly seems to back the IBA’s findings. The report stated that Imane Khelif has a condition that impacts sexual development, often resulting in ambiguous genitalia and limiting secondary male characteristics. The report was accessed by French journalist Djaffar Ait Aoudia. It noted that Imane Khelif had internal testicles and an XY chromosome makeup, which may signal a genetic condition known as 5-alpha reductase deficiency.
After the report became public, the IBA was quick to throw a punch at the IOC with IBA President Umar Kremlev demanding that Thomas Bach apologise for the abuse of women at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris.
“Everyone already knows the news. The International Olympic Committee has violated all sports rules by putting a man against a woman. Tests have again confirmed that Imane Khelif is indeed a man. Today, as the President of the International Boxing Association, which upholds gender equality and protects both women’s and men’s boxing, I demand that Thomas Bach and his team both verbally and in writing, apologizse to the global boxing community. Thomas Bach himself bears direct responsibility for this, as he personally lobbied for this to happen – for men to compete against women. On behalf of all boxers in the world, I demand them to kneel and apologise to the boxing community and to those girls who have been beaten and abused. Thomas Bach, I am now waiting, as is everyone in IBA, for your official apology,” IBA President Umar Kremlev said.
