One of the athletes involved in a gender dispute during the Olympic Games is Imane Khelif. She secured a place in the semi-finals after winning her quarter-final match.
The head of the International Association of Boxing Officials defended its decision to bar her and another fighter from competing at the World Championships due to their non-compliance with gender norms.
According to Umar Kreimlev, the situation in Paris was terrifying. However, he noted that the IOC had banned the IBA due to its past problems. These include allegations of corruption and ties with Russia.
Imane Khelif is favored to claim a bronze medal after winning her second successive bout against Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary in the women’s 66kg category.
Imane will face off against the winner of the other semi-final bout on Tuesday. Even if she loses, she will walk away with a medal.
The involvement of Khelif, as well as Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, in the Paris 2024 Olympics caught the attention of the media due to how they were disqualified after failing to meet gender eligibility requirements. Details of the tests that were performed on them have not been publicized.
The timing of Khelif’s disqualification, just three days after she defeated a promising Russian boxer, has raised warning signs. It allowed Azalia Amineva to maintain her unblemished record. According to Mr Kremlev, the tests were carried out on the request of the female athletes.
The president of the boxing association stated that they did everything transparently. However, he refused to reveal the details of the tests, which he referred to as personal property. He also claimed that the analysis revealed that the athletes had strong genes.
In response to the disqualification of Khelif, the head of the boxing association criticized the IOC for failing to protect athletes. He noted that their relationship with the organization had started to deteriorate due to how they did not protect them.
The IOC has had a strained relationship with the IBA, which used to be called the AIBA. It has urged non-boxing individuals to pay attention to the allegations against Lin and Khelif.
The IOC took away the IBA’s status as the global governing body of boxing in June last year due to its failure to implement reforms following its suspension in 2019. In response, the organization claimed that it had already implemented all of the recommendations made by the IOC.
In December 2020, Mr Kremlev became the new president of the IBA following the resignation of Gafur Rakhimov, the previous president of the organization. He was described by the US Treasury Department as an organised crime boss. The IOC had maintained its previous association with the IBA through various controversies and allegations.
Almost two years after the organization elected Mr Rakhimov as its president, US officials accused him of being an organised crime boss. The IOC eventually decided to remove the IBA from its list of organizations due to these allegations. Mr Kremlev then introduced Russia’s state-controlled gas company Gazprom as the IBA’s main sponsor.
The IOC also banned the Ukrainian national boxing association in September 2022. This move further damaged the organization’s relationship with the IOC. In response, the IOC has decided to permanently remove the IBA from the Olympic program. It will also not be able to participate in the 2028 Summer Olympics unless the sport establishes a new governing body.