Through to the final

Algeria’s Imane Khelif is making waves in the 66kg division of the Olympic boxing at Paris 2024, although it’s not just because she is finishing off opponents in emphatic style. She has found herself embroiled in controversy surrounding her gender.

she will take on China’s Yang Liu in the final on Friday

Khelif secured her position in the final this week after defeating her Thai opponent Janjaem Suwannapheng on Tuesday in a unanimous decision. With a silver medal already in the bag, she will take on China’s Yang Liu in the final on Friday to fight for her country’s second gold in this Olympics.

Khelif is odds on to win the bout, according to sportsbooks. DraftKings has her at -900 to win, while a bet on Yang Liu will secure odds of +500.

If her critics are to be believed, Khelif has not exactly beaten the odds to make it to the final. Khelif was suspended from the World Championships last year after supposedly failing a gender eligibility test. This has prompted many to assert that her gender might not align with the category in which she is fighting.

It starts with the IBA

It isn’t just Khelif who is taking heat at the moment. Lin Yu-ting, a Taiwanese boxer in the featherweight division, was also disqualified from the 2023 World Championships for the same reason. Nonetheless, she is through to her respective final at Paris 2024 where she will face Poland’s Julia Atena Szeremeta on Saturday. Sportsbooks have not yet formulated odds on this final, although she is likely to be favorite given her dominance so far.

The controversy surrounding the two boxers, which has caused many to criticise the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for allowing them to compete, begins with another boxing organization. The International Boxing Association (IBA) was the one that banned Khelif and Lin from the 2023 World Championships.

the IOC suspended the IBA in 2019, citing decades of governance issues and corruption

However, the IOC suspended the IBA in 2019, citing decades of governance issues and corruption. As a result, the IOC no longer recognized it as the governing body for international amateur boxing competitions. Tensions grew even further in 2020 when Russian Umar Kremlev, a man with deep ties to the Kremlin, became President of the association.

During the IBA’s Women’s World Championships held in India in 2023, Khelif was competing in the welterweight category and Lin in featherweight. The IBA disqualified Khelif hours before her gold-medal match against Yang Liu from China, while Lin was stripped of her bronze medal. Both women supposedly failed gender eligibility tests.

Confusion around the tests

The problem with the result of the 2023 tests is that the IBA is yet to shed much light on how it actually attained them. The amateur boxing organization confirmed to the BBC that male XY chromosomes were found In “both cases” but could not say with without doubt that the fighters were in fact “biologically male.”

The tests came about after other fighters raised concerns. The IBA actually conducted the same tests on the two boxers in 2022 but those came back inconclusive, meaning no action was taken.

Reporters were hopeful that an IBA press conference on Monday might shed more light on the issue, but it seemed to confuse matters further. Top IBA bosses gave differing accounts of what the tests actually uncovered. CEO Chris Roberts confirmed the official line that the tests found male chromosomes, but President Kremlev seemed to imply that they found high levels of testosterone.

test results show they have high levels of testosterone, like men”

“We got the test results that they allowed us to make and these test results show they have high levels of testosterone, like men,” Kremlev said. He went on to criticise IOC President Thomas Bach, adding that if boxers “want to prove they were born women, they have to do it by themselves.”

Not a trans issue

Contrary to claims that have been utilized by right-wing voices on social media, IOC President Bach explained in a press briefing that the fighters are defintely not transgender. “This is not a transgender case, this is about a woman taking part in a women’s competition, and I think I have explained this many times,” Bach told reporters this week.

Despite this assertion, many on social media are claiming the IOC is knowingly allowing biological males to compete in women’s sport.

So, why else would an athlete fail a fender eligibility test? Well, it could be that they suffer from disorders of sex development (DSD).

Whatever the case, opponents of Lin and Khelif have made their thoughts clear. After losing to Lin in the semi-final this week, Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman made an ‘X’ sign with two fingers, turning to present it to the Paris crowd. The symbol is the same one made by Lin’s previous opponent, Svetlana Staneva, and supposedly symbolizes female XX chromosomes.

Both fighters will compete in their finals in the following two days.