The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has come under fire for its defense of two female boxers who failed a gender test in 2023, with critics accusing the organization of ignoring the obvious physical advantages of the athletes in question. One of those boxers, Algeria’s Imane Khelif, made headlines on Thursday when she delivered a crushing blow to Italian fighter Angela Carini, forcing her to quit the match in under a minute.
Carini was left in tears, telling reporters that she had never taken a punch like that before and couldn’t continue. Despite this display of Khelif’s disproportionate power, the IOC has stood by its decision to allow her to compete in the Paris Games, blasting the International Boxing Association (IBA) for its handling of the situation.
The IBA had disqualified Khelif and Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-Ting from competition in 2023 after DNA tests revealed that they had XY chromosomes. However, the IOC has claimed that the IBA’s testing policies are flawed and that the decision to disqualify the two athletes was arbitrary.
In a joint statement, the Paris Boxing Unit and the IOC accused critics of mounting “aggression” against Khelif and Yu-Ting, claiming that they had been competing in top-level competition for years without issue. However, this defense rings hollow in light of Khelif’s dominant performance against Carini, which has sparked widespread outrage and concerns about the safety of female athletes competing against her.
The IOC’s stance has been criticized for prioritizing the rights of the two athletes over the well-being of their opponents, and for ignoring the obvious physical advantages that they possess. Khelif is set to face Hungarian fighter Anna Luca Hamori on Saturday, and it remains to be seen whether she will be allowed to continue competing in the women’s category.
