World Boxing has belatedly apologised after being called out for unacceptable practices for specifically targeting Algeria’s Olympic champion Imane Khelif while announcing its new policy on gender verification last week.
When World Boxing, which has been provisionally approved to govern the sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, released its new policy last week, it singled out the Algerian, saying Khelif will not be allowed to compete in the female category of its competitions until the fighter undergoes the test.
Khelif, 26, won the women’s welterweight gold at the Paris Olympics last year amid a row over gender eligibility. It bears noting that Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting, who won gold in the women’s 57kg weight class of boxing at Paris 2024, faced similar scrutiny.
And speaking of Lin Yu-ting, in her case as well, World Boxing is an offender. Rewind to November 2024. The Taiwanese pugilist, who was due to compete in the World Boxing Cup Finals in Sheffield, UK, was pulled out of the international competition after the organisers questioned her gender eligibility.
Taiwan’s Sports Administration issued the following statement at the time: “She (Lin) is female, meets all eligibility criteria, and successfully participated in the women’s boxing event [in Paris], winning a gold medal.
“Unfortunately, as World Boxing is newly established (founded in 2023) and still navigating the development of its operational mechanisms, it lacks the clear regulatory policies of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) that ensure the protection of athletes’ rights.”
“Additionally, World Boxing’s medical committee has yet to establish robust confidentiality procedures to safeguard the medical information submitted by Taiwan regarding Lin Yu-ting.”
Lin had offered to undergo a “comprehensive medical examination locally” in the UK but World Boxing did not agree, the statement further said.
To avoid further harm to Lin, her coach and Taiwanese sports officials “decided to withdraw from this event proactively”.
Coming back to Khelif, after publicly dragging the boxer’s name through the mud, World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst wrote to the Algerian Boxing Federation to “apologise” after acknowledging that “the athlete’s privacy should have been protected”.
World Boxing’s statement issued on Friday clearly exposes the body’s belated “clean-up act” for what it is – hypocrisy. The statement reads: “In light of plans to introduce this policy and the particular circumstances surrounding some boxers that competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, World Boxing has written to the Algerian Boxing Federation to inform it that Imane Khelif will not be allowed to participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes sex testing.
“This decision reflects concerns over the safety and wellbeing of all boxers, including Imane Khelif, and aims to protect the mental and physical health of all participants in light of some of the reactions that have been expressed in relation to the boxer’s potential participation at the Eindhoven Box Cup.”
World Boxing also made public a letter it had sent to both Khelif and the Algerian Boxing Federation, claiming that the new eligibility rules were developed “with the express purpose of safeguarding athletes in combat sports” given the “physical risks associated with Olympic-style boxing”.
It also said in the letter that in “the event the athlete’s sex certification is challenged by the athlete’s federation or by World Boxing” the athlete shall be “ineligible to compete until the dispute is resolved”.
World Boxing was granted provisional recognition as the sport’s international governing federation by the IOC in February 2025 as one the last executive decisions of outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach.
It is further to be recorded that Khelif has always competed in the women’s division and there has NEVER been any suggestion the fighter identifies as anything other than a woman.
Further, the IOC made it clear last year this is “not a transgender case”.
In a statement on Tuesday, the IOC said it “has always made it clear that eligibility criteria are the responsibility of the respective International Federation. The factors that matter to sports performance are unique to each sport, discipline, and/or event.
“We await the full details of how sex testing will be implemented in a safe, fair and legally enforceable way.”
World Boxing has said that its new policy is in the final stages of development (emphasis ours). While its policy is still to be finalised, what appears more than clear is that the body has already pre-judged that Khelif is “guilty as charged”.
