Gender row boxer Imane Khelif returns to Olympics 2024 ring for quarter-final showdown after controversial last 16 fight
CONTROVERSIAL Olympian Imane Khelif has returned to the ring to face Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori in the women’s 66kg quarter-final.
Khelif earned a spot in the final eight after her previous opponent Angela Carini abandoned their last 16 fight after 46 seconds.
Carini revealed she had never been hit harder – sparking controversy and a gender eligibility storm.
Khelif was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships for failing to meet eligibility criteria.
The International Olympic Committee said she was disqualified after failing a testosterone level test.
But she was cleared to fight in the Olympics with IOC President Thomas Bach defending her inclusion, saying: “We are talking about women’s boxing.
“We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who were raised as women, who have passport as woman who have competed for many years as women. This is the clear definition of a woman.”
Khelif’s quarter-final opponent Hamori remained unfazed by the noise surrounding their fight, stating she was not scared to face the Algerian.
Hamori said: “I’m not scared. I don’t care about the press story and social media. If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win.”
However the fighter has stoked anger after re-posting an image shared on social media labelling Khelif a man.
Olympics gender controversy
THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) stirred up a huge controversy by clearing two women to box who had previously failed a gender test.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were disqualified at the Women’s World Championships in New Delhi, India, in March 2023.
Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal after failing a gender eligibility test.
Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Officials found tests showed they had ‘XY chromosomes’ — which indicates a person is biologically male.
Rare ‘intersex’ medical conditions, medically known as differences in sexual development (DSDs), can also mean outwardly female individuals can have ‘male’ chromosomes, or vice versa.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association organised that event but is no longer recognised by the IOC.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven’t just suddenly arrived – they competed in Tokyo.
“The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
“In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level.”
Both Khelif and Lin competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women Amateur Boxing Championships.
The IOC said all boxers in Paris “comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations”.
The controversy follows the famous case of Caster Semenya.
South African middle-distance runner Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She won gold in the 800m at London 2012 and Rio in 2016 but was unable to compete at Tokyo in 2021 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.
Piers Morgan has his say
This is a more complicated case than the barrage of shameful transgender scandals which have engulfed women’s sport in recent years.
Khelif reportedly has a condition called Swyer Syndrome which means she has some female reproductive organs but also much higher levels of testosterone than women.
As a result, she has a superior physicality to females, which can be seen by her tall, powerful frame.
In other words, she has an unfair advantage.
And that’s why there’s been such a furious response, led by JK Rowling, Elon Musk, and Martina Navratilova, to the footage of Carini quitting after being smashed in the face.
The obvious, indisputable, medical, and scientific, truth is that someone born with male biology of any kind has an obvious physical advantage over biological females.
That’s why we keep the sexes apart in the Olympics.
Otherwise, women would barely win a single medal.
To pretend otherwise is to be either utterly deluded or wilfully dishonest.
She also re-shared a photo of a small female boxer facing off against a muscles beast in boxing gloves.
In response the Algerian Olympic Committee lodged a formal complaint about Hamori to the IOC.
A statement read: “The Algerian Olympic and Sports Committees conclude to the knowledge of national and international public opinion, that follows the official complaint submitted today by our Olympic body to the International Olympic Committee.”Regarding the violation and serious violation of sport ethics and affecting the Olympic Charter, in the person of our champion Iman Khalif, by one of the participants in the boxing tournament for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
“The International Olympic Committee has issued a final apology to violators with an order to delete every post that concerns our heroine Iman Khalif.
“We reserve the right to prosecute everyone who participated in the heinous campaign against the heroine Iman Khalif. Good luck to our heroine and long live Algeria.”
It comes after Hungary’s boxing federation contacted the IOC to object about Khelif’s inclusion in the Games.
Hungary’s federation [MOB] said in a statement: “Our federation has notified the Hungarian Olympic Committee of our objections to the participation of the Algerian athlete.
“The MOB is continuously examining the means it can use to protect Hamori’s rights to fair competition under the rules in force.
“The MOB president has initiated immediate consultations with the IOC Director of Sport to clarify the situation.”