IBA gender tests on two boxers were flawed and illegitimate, says IOC

 The International Olympic Committee was warned in writing more than a year ago that Olympic women’s boxer Imane Khelif had the DNA of a “male”.

Mark Adams, spokesman for the IOC, confirmed the existence of the International Boxing Association (IBA) letter, leaked to the 3 Wire Sports website on Sunday.

Khelif and Lin Yu-ting have been at the centre of a storm, sweeping into their boxing semi-finals despite previous IBA disqualifications for gender eligibility.

However, it has now emerged that the IBA – which has been repeatedly criticised by the IOC – told the Olympics in June last year of its test results on Khelif.

One test in India last year and a prior test in Turkey in May 2022 “concluded the boxer’s DNA was that of a male consisting of XY chromosomes,” the IBA correspondence in June 2023 said.

‘Tests are not legitimate’

On Sunday, the IOC confirmed receiving a letter from the IBA last year, and did not dispute the contents of it during multiple questions at the daily press conference. However, the body insisted that the tests should be regarded as illegitimate as they were conducted on an ad-hoc basis in the middle of last year’s World Championship.

“First off, it won’t surprise you to know I’m going to repeat the line that those tests are not legitimate tests,” said Adams.

“So there was indeed a letter. I can confirm that. But the tests themselves, the process of the tests, the ad hoc nature of the tests are not legitimate. And you will also expect me to tell you that I’m not going to discuss the individual intimate details of athletes in public, which I think is pretty disgraceful for those who have leaked that material, frankly. To be put in that position must be awful. On top of all of the social media harassment that these athletes have had.”

Adams was speaking as Taiwan’s Lin faced protests from her opponent as she was guaranteed a medal at the Paris Olympics.

As Lin swept into her semi-final just as easily as Imane Khelif had done the night before, losing Bulgarian opponent Svetlana Staneva pulled off her gloves, pointed to herself and made a double tap X symbol with her fingers. The Bulgarian’s coach had also been holding a white piece of paper with the words “I only want to play with women I am XX” scrawled on it.

Fairness-for-sport campaigners have been outraged by fights in recent days, with both boxers easing past their opponents.

But IOC president Thomas Bach and his spokesman Adams have poured scorn on the IBA for allegedly fuelling the flames around the furore. The IOC and the IBA organisations have been at war since 2019, when the IBA was suspended as the body leading Olympic boxing.

On Saturday, the IBA announced it would award prize money to Angela Carini, whose fight against Khelif was ended in 46 seconds, “as if she were an Olympic champion”.

Adams said that the IBA, run by Moscow-born administrator Umar Kremlev, has “no credibility”. The IBA was stripped of its status as boxing’s world governing body last year. That decision came four months after the body disqualified Khelif and Lin from the 2023 World Championships. Kremlev last year described the IOC leadership as “prostitutes in sports who get involved in politics”.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ioc-first-received-imane-khelif-140550195.html