IOC faces barrage of Imane Khelif questions in press conference as gender controversy swirls at Olympics

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) defended Imane Khelif once again Friday during a press conference as a gender controversy involving the Algerian boxer engulfs the Paris Games.

One day after Khelif garnered international attention for Thursday’s first-round bout against Italy’s Angela Carini, who abandoned the 66kg fight after just 46 seconds for being struck so hard, the IOC was bombarded with questions about the Albanian athlete, who failed a gender eligibility test in 2023.

“The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, and has a female passport,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said.

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“This is not a transgender case. I know you’re not saying that, but there has been some confusion that somehow it’s a man fighting a woman. This is just not the case, scientifically. On that, there is consensus. Scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman. And I think that we need to kind of get that.

“This woman has competed for a very, very long time in women’s sport against many components, in fact, against Italian boxers and lost twice in the last couple of years I think. So, if you start working on all suspicions, then we end up heading towards a gender testing regime, which is not good for anybody.”

Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting have come under intense scrutiny in the wake of the Carini fight as Lin also failed a gender eligibility test previously issued by the International Boxing Association.

Boxing competitions are now under the IOC’s umbrella and the organization does not require similar gender eligibility tests.

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The organization defended both Khelif and Lin — who won her first-round match Friday over Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova — in a statement Thursday.

“We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments,” the statement read .

“… The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.”

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Carini, who said she had never been hit so hard before, isn’t the only boxer speaking out about their experience against Khelif.

She has since said she regrets the drama that has ensued.

Athlete Brianda Tamara re-shared photos of her bruised face on social media this week after her 2022 match with Khelif in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“When I fought with her, I felt very out of my depth; her blows hurt me a lot,” Tamara wrote on X after Khelif’s disqualification in March 2023. “I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realized.”

Khelif’s quarterfinal match is set for Saturday at 11:22 a.m. against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori.

The Hungarian Boxing Association has expressed outrage over the impending matchup.

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