Two Male Boxers Previously Excluded from Women’s Events to Compete in Paris Olympics – One America News Network
OAN Staff James Meyers
11:33 AM – Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Two male boxers who were disqualified from competing with women at a global event last year have been allowed to fight in the Paris Olympics, the International Olympic Committee confirmed.
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Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu‑ting of Taiwan failed to meet gender eligibility tests at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi last year, causing the males to be disqualified.
At the time of their disqualifications, the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), which governs the World Boxing Championships, alleged that the boxers’ chromosome tests came back as XY (women typically have two X chromosomes, while men typically have an X and a Y chromosome).
“Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women,” the association’s president, Umar Kremlev, told Russia’s Tass news agency at the time. “According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were excluded from competition.”
However, the two have been cleared to compete in the women’s 66-kilogram and women’s 57-kilogram matches in Paris this week, the IOC confirmed in an email Tuesday.
The ruling received backlash from female boxer and Australian captain Caitlin Parker, who said this could be very dangerous for the sport.
“I don’t agree with them being allowed to compete in sport, especially combat sports,” Parker said.
“It can be incredibly dangerous. I don’t agree with it,” she continued. “It’s not like I haven’t sparred men before. But you know it can be dangerous for combat sports and it should be seriously looked into.”
“Yes, biologically … genetically they are going to have more advantages and in combat sports it can be dangerous,” she said. “I really hope the organizations get their act together so that boxing can continue to be at the Olympics.”
“Women’s boxing was only introduced in 2012 and I want to see it for the next 100, 200 years to come,” she concluded.
Meanwhile, Khelif is slated to compete against Italy’s Angela Carinin on Thursday, and Lin is set to fight against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova on Friday.
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