Can Birth Documents Release Khelif And Lin From Transgender Issues At The 2024 Olympics?

Lin Yu Ting received support from a number of parties at the 2024 Paris Olympics (Instagram/@boxing_ting).

JAKARTA - The transgender issue attacked female boxers Imane Khelive (Aljazar) and Lin Yu Ting (China Taipei) who were competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The International Boxing Association (IBA) has evidence of a gender test that both are not worthy of playing in women's boxing division.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) evades. They consider the two boxers to be eligible, based on documents, to compete in the women's boxing division of the 2024 Olympics.

The conflict between IBA and the IOC is heating up. IBA held a press conference to show the results of the gender tests of the two boxers.

While on the other hand, the IOC insists that the test results from the IBA cannot be independently verified.

In fact, the feud went wide. Persidents of each organization, Umar Kremlev (IBA) and Thomas Bach (IOC), have attacked personally and linked it to the geopolitical context that led the IOC to cross out IBA as the organizer of amateur boxing matches.

Put aside the fussy affairs of IBA and IOC. The real question is what is the biological gender of Khelif and Lin actually?

According to a Reuters search, the Khelif family has recently opened their voices. They show evidence that the 25-year-old boxer was born as a woman according to his passport.

He is recognized by the IOC as a female athlete, not a transgender. Evidence of another document that Khelif does not identify himself as an intersex (a term to describe the condition of a person born of two different sexes) according to an advocacy organization for the rights of a query named GLAAD.

GLAAD is an organization in the United States that accommodates quenchers, such as bisexual and transgender.

Then, Lin Yu Ting had three years of money. The 28-year-old boxer's birth document also shows that he was born as a woman.

Another document report also states that Lin always competes as a woman. In fact, he always underwent a thorough examination by Taiwanese officials.

Khelif And Lin Open Voice

Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting finally opened up the voices that hit them at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In an interview at SNTV, Khelif criticized the discourse circulating. He considers the transgender issue circulating as a bullying.

"I send a message to everyone in the world to uphold Olympic principles and Olympic charters, not to oppress all athletes, because this has an impact, a huge impact," said Khhelif.

"It can destroy people, can kill people's thoughts, souls, and minds. It can divide people. Therefore, I ask them to refrain from bullying."

"I want to tell the whole world that I am a woman. I will remain a woman," he said.

Despite the fire of defending himself, the Associated Press revealed that Khelif refused to answer when asked about the test conducted by IBA.

He didn't want to talk about the test and now the most important thing for him is support, especially from the IOC.

"I know that the Olympic committee has treated me fairly. I am pleased with this action for showing the truth," he said.

Support for Khelif has actually flowed from various parties, namely Algerian NOC (COA), Khelif's father, and Algerian boxer, Roumaissa Boualem.

COA said that the issue was an evil and unethical attack directed at Imane Khelf by certain foreign media.

Then, Khelf's father condemned the issue by calling it an immoral attack.

Rouumaissa Boualem, besides that, was even tougher. He emphasized that IBA was just nonsense.

"We live in Algeria. She was born a woman. They (IBA) say protecting women, they protect athletes, but she (Khelif) also needs to be protected," Boualem told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Lin chose to remain silent. However, support for him also rolled hard. In fact, the President of China Taipei, Lai Ching-te, also opened his voice.

"Let's stand on the side (Lin), support her firmly, and cheer for Lin Yu Ting with the best wishes and applause!" Lai said.

"In recent days, the Chinese people of Taipei have been furious with slander against them. Facing these challenges, Yu Ting is not afraid and uses her power to destroy rumors. Let's continue to support her!" said the president again.

The Journey Continues

The rioters who attacked Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting did not stop them at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

They are guaranteed to win medals in their respective classes. In fact, Khelif and Lin both stepped into the final.

Khelif will duel with Chinese boxer, Liu Yang, in the women's 66 kg class final, Saturday, August 10, 2024, local time.

Meanwhile, Lin will face Polish boxer Julia Szemeta, in the women's 57 kg class final, Sunday, August 11, 2024, Paris time.

The IOC still protects them from continuing to compete amid the issue of transgender sticking out.

The IOC adheres to the framework of fairness, inclusion, and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender variations that usually leave it to sports regulatory bodies to define and decide their eligibility.

The IOC has confirmed that it will not manage boxing at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and hopes that other international boxing federations will participate.

"We ask the federation (box) to unite and that movement has begun to return with a modernized new federation respecting the rights of the athletes," said Mark Adams, IOC spokesman.

Apart from that, the issue of the Khelif and Lin transgenders surfaced last year.

On March 24, 2023, Khhelif was disqualified from the 2023 Women's World Championships in New Delhi just days after he won the fight against the previously unbeaten Russian boxer, Azalia Amineva, and just before he was scheduled to compete in the final.

IBA stated that Khelif and Lin failed the tests carried out during the Women's World Championships IBA in 2022 and 2023.

Thus, they failed to meet the feasibility criteria to participate in women's competitions, as stipulated in the IBA Regulation.

IBA president Umar Kremlev said the tests showed the two athletes had XY chromodynamics (generally male) and not XX chromodynamics (generally female). However, until now he has not released the test results or evidence to support the claim.

Khelif won silver and Lin won gold in their respective heavy categories at the 2022 World Championships after the first test was carried out.

IBA also published an article months after testing in 2022, which promotes Khelif as a female boxer.

Then, in a statement, IBA said that this one test was not enough to make decisions with appropriate consequences. Their lawyers then suggested monitoring the situation and contacting the IOC.

The statement said the test results were protected medical information as personal data and could not be released to the public without the consent of the tested boxers, but both had received a copy of their test results.

The organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics have rejected the IBA test, insisting that the test is not a valid test.

Another thing that became debated for those who filed cases against the two women was that IBA claimed Khelif withdrew the appeal at the Sports Arbitration Court (CAS), which made IBA's decision legally binding and Lin did not appeal the IBA decision.

The latest IBA statement claims that CAS stopped the process because the applicant did not pay the cost of the process.

However, ABC NEWS was unable to find evidence of CAS's appeal or a withdrawal from Khelif or Lin.