The 2024 Olympics are hosting one of the most controversial boxing tournaments in the history of the Games. Two athletes of questionable gender are participating in the competition.

In Paris, Iman Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yuting from Taiwan have already secured medals. They are competing among women, although a series of tests had previously shown that they had male chromosomes. During the Olympic tournament, the rivals complained about the strong blows of the masculine girls. Some refused to shake their hands or even continue the fight.

Neutral fans, journalists and experts are indignant. Everyone demands justice and equal competition between women. The IOC cynically rejects all claims, continuing to mock women’s sports to spite Russia.

Conflict with IBA and common sense

Last year, during the women’s world championships, Khelif and Lin Yuting were disqualified after failing a gender test. It showed that both athletes had male XY chromosomes. The world championships were held under the auspices of the International Boxing Association (IBA), headed by Russian Umar Kremlev.

Umar Kremlev / Photo: © Dmitry Chelyapin / Match TV

In 2023, the IOC stripped the organization of its recognition, and since then the two bodies have been in irreconcilable conflict.

The Vice President of the World Boxing Organization (WBO), Istvan Kovacs, who served as the Secretary General of the IBA, confirms the stubbornness and hypocrisy of the IOC. He stated that the results of the gender tests were simply ignored. Kovacs used the example of Iman Khelif to illustrate this.

“The saddest thing about this story is that the problem was not Khelif’s testosterone level, which can be regulated these days, but the result of a gender test, which clearly showed that the Algerian boxer is a biological male. Of course, I immediately reported all this in writing to the IOC representatives, but, surprisingly, they have not responded to this to this day,” Magyar Nemzet quotes Kovacs as saying.

After the scandal that erupted at the Games in Paris, the IOC was forced to respond to public complaints.

“These tests were not legitimate. There was a letter from the IBA, I can confirm, but the testing process was not legitimate. I will not discuss the athletes’ intimate details, it is shameful to release such things into the information field,” IOC Communications Director Mark Adams told reporters.

The suffering of real girls

The so-called Khelif girls and Lin Yuting have already reached the semi-final stage in their categories at the 2024 Olympics. Their rivals openly despise these athletes and do not want to share the ring with them.

Iman Khelif and Angela Carini / Photo: © Anadolu / Contributor / Anadolu / Gettyimages.ru

The most recognizable moment of the women’s Olympic boxing tournament was the refusal of Italian Angela Carini to continue the fight with Iman Khelif. The 1/8 final fight lasted less than a minute. Carini withdrew from the fight after another punch that was not at all feminine in strength. She also refused to shake her opponent’s hand. The Italian later announced her retirement.

Svetlana Staneva and Lin Yuting / Photo: © Richard Pelham / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

A similar situation occurred in a fight involving Lin Yuting. After the quarterfinal fight, Bulgarian representative Svetlana Staneva refused to shake her hand. A little later, Staneva addressed the audience and crossed her fingers. This gesture may mean female sex chromosomes. The hint is clear: there was only one woman in the ring.

Many celebrities, including former US President Donald Trump and author JK Rowling, have condemned the mockery of women’s sport.

Former UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Colby Covington couldn’t pass by the high-profile story. In response to the Olympic mayhem, the fighters expressed an obvious idea: men should not box with women.

“I feel sorry for the women who have worked their whole lives to perform on the biggest stage. Now they are being robbed of that for a circus show where mentally ill men score points. Keep men out of women’s sports,” Covington wrote on social media.

It is sad that the IOC, in order to please political expediency, distorting sporting principles, is destroying women’s boxing.