Paris 2024: IOC Clears Two Boxers To Compete As Women Despite Failed Gender Eligibility Tests

Two boxers, Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who failed testosterone and gender eligibility tests in 2023 have been cleared by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to fight in the women’s category in Paris 2024, the Telegraph reports.

Khelif, who competes on Thursday, was disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) over high testosterone levels before a gold medal bout at the women’s world championships.

Yu-ting, a double world champion featherweight scheduled to fight on behalf of Chinese Taipei this Friday, also lost a bronze medal in New Delhi over a “biochemical test for gender eligibility”.

Olympics organising sources had previously told Telegraph Sport there were no known athletes who were “out” as either transgender or with differences of sexual development (DSD) at these games in women’s categories.

But Khelif and Yu-ting are now facing intense scrutiny by fairness for women’s sport campaigners after the IOC said the duo had satisfied its own criteria to compete.

The official Paris 2024 notes on both athletes confirm both had previously been disqualified at other major events.

Khelif’s state she was disqualified just hours before her gold medal showdown against Yang Liu (CHN) at the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi, India after her elevated levels of testosterone failed to meet the eligibility criteria.

Yu-ting stated how at the 2023 World Championships in Delhi, India, She was stripped of her bronze medal after failing to meet eligibility requirements based on the results of a biochemical test.

“It was the first time a Chinese Taipei athlete had been required to take a biochemical test for gender eligibility since the IBA started to use the new testing method,” the notes add.

As campaigners raised the pair’s previous expulsion, leading figures in boxing expressed dismay at them being cleared to compete in Paris.

Barry McGuigan, who held the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1985 to 1986, posted on social media: “It’s shocking that they were actually allowed to get this far, what is going on?”

The IOC, however, stood by its regulations “eligibility and entry regulations” for boxing, which have no obvious references to gender eligibility.

“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, in accordance with rules 1.4 and 3.1 of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU) ‘Event Regulations of the Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournaments and the boxing competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024’ (Paris 2024 Event Regulations) and with the ‘Medical Rules for the Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournaments and the boxing competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024’,” a statement said.