The Olympic boxing champion from Paris does not want to accept the “baseless accusations” of the IOC-suspended federation.
Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif has rejected the latest accusations by the IBA federation as “baseless, false and offensive” and will defend herself in court if necessary.
“My team is carefully reviewing the situation and will take all necessary legal action to ensure that my rights and the principles of fair competition are upheld,” Khelif, 25, wrote on Instagram on Tuesday evening.
The IBA, which was suspended by the International Olympic Committee after several scandals, had previously announced that it would sue the IOC, allegedly in an effort to protect the integrity of women’s sports. The IOC had organized the boxing competitions at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, where Khelif (Algeria) and Taiwanese Lin Yu-Ting each won gold.
The successes of Khelif and Lin were overshadowed by intense debates about their gender. The background to this was their respective exclusions from the World Championships a year earlier by the IBA due to gender tests and the competitive advantages derived from them. Donald Trump also used the debate in his election campaign and described both as trans – demonstrably a lie.
Nevertheless, the IBA is now using the US president’s decree to exclude transgender female athletes from college sports for its own purposes and to attack the IOC. The Russian IBA boss Umar Kremlev called on all allegedly disadvantaged female athletes to take legal action against IOC top representatives such as President Thomas Bach. Kremlev promised to cover all costs for this.
Khelif, for her part, announced measures against the IBA. She also pointed out that she was no longer connected to the IBA and that the association had lost its recognition by the IOC. “I’m staying here and I’m not going anywhere. I will fight in the ring, I will fight in court and I will fight in public opinion until the truth can no longer be denied.”
The IBA claims to have determined Khelif and Lin XY chromosomes, which the association evaluates as proof of the “masculinity” of the boxers. Doctors define similar cases as a variant of sex development (DSD), which occurs in one of 1000 to 4500 births. The IOC points to the passports in which Khelif and Lin are identified as women from birth. The IBA’s new initiative was described by the Rings organization as “another example of its campaign against the IOC”.
