World Boxing has pushed out a new policy that requires all boxers to undergo a gender test to be eligible to fight in sanctioned bouts, including the upcoming 2028 Olympics.
The rule appears to be aimed at forcing Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif to prove that she is female in order to remain in the female category of competition. Khelif soared to controversy after thoroughly destroying all female opponents at the Paris Olympics last year.
The new policy is key since the International Olympic Committee has contracted with World Boxing to organize the boxing competitions at the upcoming Olympics, planned for Los Angeles in 2028.
Khelif instantly became the center of controversy for being allowed to compete as a female in the International Olympic Games in Paris this year, despite being banned in 2023 by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for allegedly testing positive for male XY chromosomes.
In 2023, the IBA President Umar Kremlev explained his organization’s decision to disqualify Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting and Algeria’s Imane Khelif from competing in the IBA’s 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championships, according to Russia’s Tass News Agency. “Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women. According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were excluded from competition,” Kremlev said.
But after Khelif’s first Olympic bout against Italian boxer Angela Carini, the world rose up in protest that Khelif was allowed to fight as a woman in Paris.
Khelif instantly became the center of controversy for being allowed to compete as a female in Paris despite being banned in 2023 by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for allegedly testing positive for male XY chromosomes.
In 2023, the IBA President Umar Kremlev explained his organization’s decision to disqualify Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting and Algeria’s Imane Khelif from competing in the IBA’s 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championships, according to Russia’s Tass News Agency. “Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women. According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were excluded from competition,” Kremlev said at the time.
But after Khelif’s first Olympic bout against Italian boxer Angela Carini, the world rose up in protest that Khelif was allowed to fight as a woman in Paris.
It was later revealed by Olympic boxing trainer Rafa Lozano that Khelif had been barred from boxing with women in training because they considered the Algerian to be far too dangerous for women to face in the ring.
Khelif’s biological status, reportedly assembled by the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital in Paris, France, and the Mohamed Lamine Debaghine hospital in Algiers, Algeria, revealed that the IBA may have been correct in its ruling that Khelif is a male and should be banned from women’s boxing.
The report claims that Khelif suffers from a 5-alpha reductase deficiency, a sexual organ disorder that is only found in males.
A baby born with this disorder appears to have genitalia that can be mistaken for a vaginal pouch. Still, when puberty arrives, the child begins to exhibit male characteristics, such as hair growth, increased muscle mass, the absence of breast tissue, and, later, a cessation of menstrual activity.
World Boxing has confirmed that Khelif and Algerian Boxing officials have been informed that a gender test will be required for Khelif to compete in 2028.
“World Boxing has written to the Algerian Boxing Federation to inform it that Imane Khelif will not be allowed to participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes sex testing,” the organization said in a statement.
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