Boxers barred from world championship over gender controversies qualify for Paris Olympics

PARIS (TND) — Two boxers that were disqualified from last year’s world championship after failing chemical tests have qualified for the Paris Olympics.

Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting and Algeria’s Imane Khelif, who both compete as women, were disqualified from the 2023 International Boxing Association (IBA) finals for not meeting the organization’s eligibility requirements.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) told The National Desk (TND) the boxers met the conditions for competing in Paris.

“All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations,” the IOC said.

Yu-ting and Khelif complied with the rules requiring a “certificate” signed by a “medical authority” within the past three months, according to the committee.

Yu-ting won the bronze medal at last year’s 125-pound championship bout before the IBA stripped it from her, the IOC’s database of athletes notes.

She was disqualified after taking a “biochemical test,” which was the first time the IBA required a Taiwanese athlete to take a gender eligibility test since the association began using it, according to the IOC.Khelif also failed a biochemical test, the IOC says.

IBApresident Umar Kremlev told a Russian news agency at the time that both Shelif and Yu-ting have "XY chromosomes," Reuters reports.

The committee told TND that Paris organizers tried to “restrict amendments” to minimize the impact on athletes’ preparation.

The IOC database shows that the IBA barred Khelif from the 145-pound gold-medal match after a test found high levels of testosterone. Following the disqualification, she fought in the qualifiers for the Paris Olympics, which tests for doping, according to the IOC.

Both boxers qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The Paris organizers used the rules for those games as a baseline for their regulations, the IOC said. The Tokyo rules derived from the 2016 Rio Olympics, according to the committee.

Paris officials noted that limiting rule changes helps guarantee “consistency” between the Olympic games.

The IOC created the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit, which organizes competitions for the sport, after it suspended Olympic recognition of the IBA in 2019. Last year, the IOC fully stopped recognizing the IBA, asserting that the association needed to ensure the integrity of its referees and increase financial transparency.

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