Olympic champion Nicola Adams hits out in boxing gender controversy

Gold medal winner Nicola Adams has spoken out in the Olympic boxing gender row, saying it would be “unfair and dangerous” for people who have gone through male puberty to fight against women.

Italian fighter Angela Carini abandoned her bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif after 46 seconds on Thursday, saying she had “never felt a punch like this”.

Khelif was one of two fighters, along with Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei, who are present at the Games in Paris having been disqualified from the World Championships last year by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.

Adams, who won flyweight gold for Team GB in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, wrote on X on Friday: “After years of fighting for women’s boxing to even exist in the Olympics and then all the training they go through to get there it was hard to watch another fighter be forced to give up on her Olympic dreams.

“People not born as biological women, that have been through male puberty, should not be able to compete in women’s sport. Not only is this unfair it’s dangerous!”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is administering the boxing event in Paris after stripping the IBA of recognition as the sport’s global federation last year, issued a statement on Thursday confirming that as with previous Games, the gender of athletes was based on their passports.

The IOC said “misleading information” had been reported about Khelif and Lin, and pointed out they had been competing in international boxing events for many years, including the Tokyo Games three years ago.

It described the IBA’s decision to disqualify them last year as “sudden” and “arbitrary” and having been made “without due process”.

The IBA has not given specifics regarding Khelif and Lin’s disqualification but said on Thursday the decision to disqualify had been based on “two trustworthy tests” at World Championships in Istanbul in 2022 and New Delhi in 2023.

“The IBA will never support any boxing bouts between the genders, as the organisation puts the safety and well-being of our athletes first,” a statement on its website read.

“We are protecting our women and their rights to compete in the ring against equal rivals, and we will defend and support them in all instances; their hopes and dreams must never be taken away by organisations unwilling to do the right thing under difficult circumstances.”

An earlier IBA statement on Wednesday confirmed the athletes had not undergone a testosterone examination.

Lin is in action on Friday against Sitora Turdibekova in the women’s 57kg category. Khelif is next due to fight against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori on Saturday.