by Imane Khelif accused the International Boxing Association (IBA) of making “false and offensive” allegations against her, while the fallout from her saga of the Olympic Games continue.
During the 2024 matches in Paris, Khelif won the Welter weight boxing gold, but the Algerian victory was overshadowed by a gender row. The IBA, which previously directed Olympic boxing but was abandoned before the 2020 Games, said Khelif had failed an eligibility test between the sexes at the 2022 world championships.
While Khelif was born and grew up as a woman and has never identified itself as transgender or intersex, the International Olympic Committee (CIO) faces a legal challenge by IBA, which says that it was provoked by an executive decree of American President Donald Trump.
The IBA cited on Monday the “interviews of Trump men outside female sports”, while calling Lin Yu -Ting from Khelif and Taiwan – which also won gold in Paris – “ineligible athletes”. Now Khelif, 25, responded to IBA with an Instagram statement.
She wrote: “For two years, I took the high road while my name and my image were used, unauthorized, to other personal and political programs by propagation and the dissemination of lies and baseless disinformation. But silence is no longer an option.
“The IBA, an organization with which I am no longer associated and which is no longer recognized by the IOC, has again made basic accusations which are false and offensive, using them to advance their program. This is a question that concerns not only me, but the broader principles of equity and the regular procedure in sport.
“My team carefully examines the situation and will take all the legal measures necessary to ensure that my rights and the principles of fair competition are confirmed. The managers of these actions must be held responsible and we will continue all the legal means to ensure that justice prevails. »»
IBA was abandoned by the IOC due to concerns relating to finance and links of the organization with Russia, and due to fears of corruption. As such, the IOC ran Olympic in 2020 and set up the Paris boxing unit to do so last summer.
Tuesday, a IOC spokesman said The independent: “This IBA declaration is only another example of [the] The IBA campaign against the IOC, which has been underway since their recognition has been withdrawn by the IOC for questions related to governance, judgment and arbitration – as well as questions concerning their finances.
“Here are the facts: the two female athletes mentioned by [the] IBAs are not transgender athletes. They were born as women, were raised as women and participated in the female category for their entire boxing careers, including in previous international competitions such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, when the two did not win a medal. They also participated in the IBA World World Championships and tournaments sanctioned by IBA before becoming victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision of IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were disqualified, without any regular procedure.
“None of the athletes had a perfect track in Paris. Lin Yu-Ting, for example, lost its latest fight before arriving in Paris. None of the athletes deserved the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where Imane Khelif was beaten in the quarterfinals by unanimous decision. Lin Yu-Ting lost his first fight in the round of 16.
“In their career, Yu-Ting has won only one of the 40 fights by RSC (3%) and Khelif won five of the 37 (14%). In comparison, other successful boxers arrived in Paris after winning up to 28% of their career fights and 33% of their most recent fights by RSC. These data are relevant when evaluating the question of whether Yu-Ting and Khelif had an increased performance advantage and / or a security risk compared to other successful boxers in the women’s category. »»
