The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved two boxers, Imane Kherif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics despite being disqualified from the women’s boxing world championships in March 2023 after being ordered to take DNA tests over concerns about their gender, reports said.
The IOC announced on Monday that both boxers were eligible to compete.
by Daily Mail:
at that time, [2023] International Boxing Association (IBA) president Umar Kremlev claimed tests proved that fighters including Kherif and Yuting, who will compete later this week, have “XY chromosomes”, adding that “athletes have been found who have been deceiving colleagues by pretending to be women”.
But the IBA was stripped of the right to run Olympic boxing due to concerns over governance, and the IOC has said all athletes who take part are eligible to compete, with the current rules seen as looser than those of the IBA.
Algerian Olympic officials were quick to criticise the tests, claiming they were part of a “conspiracy” to stop the African country from winning the gold medal.
One person who has no illusions about Kherif’s potential dangerous threat to female fighters in the ring is Mexico’s Brianda Tamara, who wrote about how overpowered she was when she faced Kherif.
“When I fought her I felt inadequate,” she wrote to X. “Her blows hurt me so much. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way in my 13 years as a boxer, or sparring with men. I thank God I got out of the ring safe that day, and I’m glad they finally noticed.”
As Reduxx reports, both Kheriff and Yuting are believed to have disorders of sex development (DSD), a condition in which genitalia are atypical for a person’s chromosomes.
In response to reports about the IOC’s decision to allow transgender athletes, former Olympic swimmer and women’s sports advocate Nancy Hogshead reiterated the disparity in punching power between men and women.
.translation: Lin Yu-ting of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan will compete in women’s Olympic boxing, despite being disqualified last year for having XY chromosomes, a male phenotype. Let’s remember that men, whatever their identity, have 162% more punching power than men… https://t.co/ylGAvJ8Mk6 pic.twitter.com/SwnWslvHZ5
— Nancy Hogshead, JD, Oriole (@Hogshead3Au) July 29, 2024
Kheriff will play Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday, while Yuting will play on Friday.
