The eagerly anticipated 2024 Olympic Games that took place over the last two weeks in Paris were overall of a great success.
New records were set, some previous Olympian champions managed to successfully defend their title and new champions emerged as well.
The Games did not however go by without any controversy, from the critical blasphemous opening ceremony to swimmers having to compete in the polluted Seine river.
One of the biggest controversies involved Algerian boxer Imane Khelif who won the gold medal in the women’s 66-kg competition. Following her victory, Khelif stated that she had “… worked for eight years, no sleep, eight years tired. Now I’m Olympic champion.”
Khelif’s victory was unfortunately overshadowed by accusations concerning her gender, allegations that caught worldwide media attention following the withdrawal of Italy’s Angela Carini from the first round bout after just 46 seconds. The Italian claimed that Khelif was throwing hard punches towards her.
Khelif’s gender was already questioned and put under the spotlight back in 2022. At the time, the International Boxing Association (IBA) received various complaints from several coaches concerning the gender of two female boxers; Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei.
This led the IBA to request both boxers to undergo gender testing via a blood sample collection, something which both boxers voluntarily undertook. The laboratory results concluded that the sample results did not match the eligibility criteria for IBA women’s events.
The IBA even claimed that they had notified the International Olympic Committee (IOC) about the results, but they received no response from the IOC.
Faced with an unprecedented situation and following legal advice, a second round of blood sample collection was taken during the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship 2023, with the findings being absolutely identical to the first test results.
It must be pointed out that the findings have never been made public, owing to the fact that the tests concerned the private life of the athletes and that medical information is deemed to be personal data which is protected under law.
Faced with these findings, the IBA had no further option but to exclude both athletes from IBA events for not meeting the eligibility criteria, giving both boxers the possibility to appeal their ban within 21 days to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Lin Yu-ting did not appeal the IBA’s decision to the CAS, thus rendering the decision legally binding. Whilst Khelif initially appealed the decision to CAS, but later withdrew her appeal during the process, meaning that the IBA’s decision also become legally binding. As a result, the CAS never got the opportunity to opine on this matter.
Following this, the IBA amended its Technical and Competition Rules in May 2023, whereby IBA competitions will only be conducted between male athletes and between female athletes respectively. The IBA also introduced the possibility of athletes being submitted to either a random and/or targeted gender test in order to determine the gender of an athlete. Where an adverse result is identified, the boxer concerned would be disqualified from participating in IBA’s events. In the view of the IBA, the participation of DSD athletes (“differences of sexual development”) in boxing competitions was deemed to be dangerous and put at stake the health and safety of boxers and afforded the DSD athlete of a distinct advantage over their counterparts.
During these developments, the IBA was already facing its own internal crises with accusations over judging and refereeing decisions, financial stability and governance, leading the IOC to initially suspend and then formally withdraw its recognition of the IBA from the Olympic Movement, making it the first time that the IOC formally removed a governing body in its 129-year history.
As a result of the non-recognition of the IBA by the IOC, the IBA had no involvement in either the qualification for or the organisation of the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 and Paris this summer. The qualifications and the Olympic tournaments organised by boxing units were set up by the IOC, which aimed to protect the athletes, the National Boxing Federations and their respective National Olympic Committees (NOCs).
As a result, both athletes were allowed to participate in both the 2020 and 2024 Games in the female boxing category, with the IOC standing by the athletes and their eligibility to compete. To determine the boxers gender eligibility, the IOC used rules from 2016.
Whether Khelif will be able to defend her title at the LA 2028 Games remains to be seen, since boxing is currently not on the sports programme of the Games.
The IOC has made it clear that it cannot organise again Olympic boxing competitions. Time will tell whether a credible, well-governed international federation will be in a position to govern the sport of boxing on the international scene.
Note: Dr. Robert Dingli is a sports lawyer and Senior Associate at Dingli & Dingli Law Firm
