IOC Gives Up On Information On Transgender Boxers At The Olympics

JAKARTA The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued an official statement to straighten out information regarding boxer Imane Khelif who was accused of being transgender at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Algerian boxing athlete became the center of attention when he made Italian fighter Angela Carini give up in just 46 seconds in the last 16 of women's boxing, Thursday, August 1, 2024, WIB night.

Allegations related to transgender athletes are also attached to boxing athlete Lin Yu Ting from China Taipei. The two athletes are currently both allowed to fight in France.

The IOC said in a recent statement that so far the information related to the two fighters was actually wrong. Both, they said, were born as women.

"We have seen in the report about misleading information about the two female athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics," the IOC wrote on their official website.

The misinformation related to the two athletes stems from the decision of the International Boxing Association (IBA) which prohibited them from appearing in the 2023 World Boxing Championships.

At that time both of them could not fight because they failed a gender eligibility test. The test results show that Khelif and Lin have very high men's XY chromodynamics.

The IOC confirmed that the two athletes had been victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA at the time. The reason is, towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without legal proceedings.

"The two athletes have competed in international boxing competitions for years in the women's category, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the International Boxing Association World Championships (IBA), and IBA-approved tournaments," the IOC said.

The IOC further said that all athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics had complied with the eligibility rules, competition registration, and all the applicable medical regulations and were stipulated by the 2024 Paris Boxing Unit (PBU).

"As in previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of athletes is based on their passports," the IOC said.

However, this issue continues to be debated. The majority of criticisms assess that Khhelif should not be allowed to compete in the women's category because she is definitely more dominant.

The case of the two athletes above is similar to that experienced by a running athlete from South Africa, Caster Semenya. He is prohibited from appearing in several championships because he has a very high testosterone hormone equivalent to a man.

The ban made the Cement Cement carry out various legal remedies to compete again because he knew he was born as a woman.