Algerian boxer Imane Khelif (right) will fight for Olympic gold on August 9 after victory in her semi-final. As per the IOC’s 2021 guidance on transgender athletes in women's sports, the responsibility lies on individual federations to determine eligibility criteria in their sport. Relations between IOC and IBA soured following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022
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Algeria’s Imane Khelif delivered a blow to the face of Italy’s Angela’s Carini at the 2024 preliminary Olympic women’s boxing match. Carini gave up the fight after 46 seconds. Khelif’s second round victory over Carini sparked outcry from ultra-conservative politicians who called Khelif “male” and “transgender”. Others have claimed Khelif’s “biological advantages” are “unfair”.
During the 2023 International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s World Championship, officials had disqualified Khelif, who competes in 66-kg weight class, and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who fights at 57 kg. The IBA stated that the “women don’t meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors”.
So, how did they qualify to fight in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris? What were IBA’s necessary eligibility criteria, which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have cast their doubt on? Does IOC framework give advantage to these two boxers competitive advantages?
WHAT IS IBA?
The IBA, formerly known as AIBA, was formed in 1946 as a worldwide governing body for amateur boxing. The IOC recognised the IBA as the sport’s governing body until 2019. The IOC suspended IBA because of governance and alleged corruption.
HOW IBA HAS LINKS WITH RUSSIA
IBA ex-president CK Wu was suspended in October 2017 for financial mismanagement. He was replaced by Gafur Rakhimov, who was described by the US Treasury Department as “one of Uzbekistan’s leading criminals”. In 2020, Russian Umar Kremlev was elected president. Kremlev seen to have close ties to the Kremlin, and Russian state energy firm Gazprom being its main sponsor. Though Kremlev said in 2023 that the sponsorship had ended.
Relations between the IOC and IBA have actually soured following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In May 2022, Kremlev was re-elected unopposed after Dutch boxing federation president Boris van der Vorst was declared ineligible.
The IOC said it was “extremely concerned” by the result, and Van der Vorst said he feared for the sport’s Olympic future.
WHAT ARE IBA’S ELIGIBILITY TESTS?
In the 2023 World Championships, women’s held in India in March and men’s in Uzbekistan in April and May, the IBA had said both Khelif and Lin had “failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA regulations”.