PARIS – The International Olympic Committee has condemned and dismissed the chromosome tests taken by the International Boxing Federation in 2022 and 2023 that banned boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei from international competition.
Both Khelif and Lin continue to fight for the 2024 Olympics, with supporters and critics – including those from the Olympic community – increasing in numbers.
On Saturday, 3 Wire Sports reported that the IBA sent a letter to the IOC in June 2023 showing that “Khelif’s DNA was that of a male with XY chromosomes,” and included lab reports on exit that test.
On Sunday morning, IOC spokesman Mark Adams accepted the IBA’s letter but criticized its content. “The tests themselves, the testing process, the nature of the tests, are illegal,” Adams said. “I can’t talk about sensitive information about athletes in public, and I think it’s very embarrassing for those who wrote that information. … The way that information was shared is against the law, ethics and measures all others.”
Adams declined to comment further on “the letter sent, the test, the test method, the test idea, which happened overnight. None of it is correct, so it doesn’t deserve any response, especially not in full.”
The letter came just days before the IOC stripped the IBA of its recognition as boxing’s governing body over what the IOC said were concerns about funding, refereeing and other improprieties. The IBA has continued to criticize the IOC on a number of issues, including the “inconsistent application of eligibility criteria by other sports bodies, including those in charge of the Olympic Games,” the IBA said in a statement. of 31 July.
“The various rules of the IOC in these matters,” the statement continued, “in which the IBA is not involved, raise serious questions about the fairness of the competition and the safety of the athletes.”
However, the IOC seems to be taking the position that any test, announcement or communication from the IBA is, in fact, fruit from a poisonous tree.
“There are a lot of reasons why we can’t deal with this,” Adams said. “Confidentiality, partly medical issues, partly that there was no basis for the examination, and partly sharing the details of this is also against the law, international law.”
Adams also strongly criticized the IBA as an organization. “Is it fair and proper for two people to be looked at in this way and we take decisions arbitrarily based on the presumptuous decisions presented before by the organization that I will remind you is totally condemned ?” he said.
He added: “If you really believe that we should take whatever they say or whatever they send us at face value, I think… he would be very wrong.”
The IOC has suspended the IBA administration through an interim governing body. Boxing’s participation in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles is not guaranteed, and regulatory uncertainty is the main reason.
On a larger scale, the IOC has been insisting that both boxers are women, both biologically and documented. “We have two female boxers [sic], who was raised as a woman, who has passports as a woman, and who has competed for many years as a woman,” IOC president Thomas Bach said Saturday. “This is officially the definition of a woman. There was never any doubt that they were women.”
The IOC relies heavily on the passport as the main factor that determines the gender of the athlete, but Adams allowed, in response to a question from Yahoo Sports, that there is a possibility that could change in the future.
“This is an ongoing debate; this is not just about boxing,” said Adams. “A lot of organizations use the same methods, and it’s very difficult. As we have already said, no one wants to go back to the days of sex testing. I think there will be a discussion about this. ”
For now, Lin and Khelif will continue to fight. Indeed, Lin assured herself of winning the medal when she defeated Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva by unanimous decision moments before the IOC press conference began. Khelif, who is also guaranteed to win the medal, will fight Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng on Tuesday in one of the women’s 66kg semi-finals.
Questions of justice, inclusion and safety will continue to be heated, now and for years to come.
“This is not an issue where there is an easy black and white answer,” Adams said. “If someone has a scientific consensus, we’d be happy to work on it and work with that consensus. Unfortunately, as you’ve seen over the last few days, there is no consensus.”
#Paris #Olympics #IOC #condemns #boxers #gender #tests #illegal