Olympics boss demands respect for boxers at centre of gender controversy

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach insisted there was “never any doubt” that the two boxers at the centre of a gender row are women.

The participation of Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif at Paris 2024 has led to scrutiny after they were disqualified from last year’s World Championships for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.

On Thursday, Algeria’s Khelif won her bout in just 46 seconds, with opponent Angela Carini saying afterwards that she had “never felt a punch like this.”

Chinese Taipei fighter Lin also won her women’s featherweight (-57kg) fight on Friday with a unanimous decision victory over Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.

Both fighters have previously competed in female boxing events for a number of years, but the International Boxing Association (IBA) – which carried out the tests in 2023 – said the duo failed “to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition”.

However, the IBA was stripped as the global governing body for boxing in June last year by the IOC, which is administering the sport in Paris.

In a press conference on Saturday morning, IOC president Bach addressed the criticism surrounding the two boxers and condemned the “hate speech” the pair have received on social media.

“Let’s be very clear, we are talking about women’s boxing,” Bach said.

“We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman.

“This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.

IOC President Thomas Bach responds to questions about the women's boxing competition and makes it very clear there was never any doubt on the athletes being