COME OUT SWINGING
The IBA’s presser featured protests from the Algerian national team and rants from the organization's Russian president about the Olympic opening ceremony.
Zachary Folk
Freelance Reporter
Published Aug. 05, 2024
Richard Pelham/Getty Images
The International Boxing Association, the embattled organization that previously banned two female Olympic boxers after an unspecified “gender test,” conducted a chaotic press conference on Monday that featured Algerian protesters, off-topic rants from the organization’s Russian president, and little new information about why they disqualified the athletes, Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan.
The IBA was previously banned by the International Olympic Committee as its governing body of boxing in 2023 after years of corruption allegations and a match-fixing scandal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The IBA drew intense international scrutiny after another boxer opted to forfeit her match against Khelif—who was disqualified for competition as a woman at the IBA-run World Championships in 2023—after just 46 seconds last week at the Paris Olympics.
On Monday, the IBA gave an almost two-hour press conference with the organization’s leadership that was marred by delays and technical difficulties. Umar Kremlev, the organization’s president who appeared at the conference on a video call, gave an almost 15-minute opening statement in Russian.
Although the real-time translators did not immediately translate Kremlev’s speech, he ranted about defending women’s sports, feeling “humiliated” by the Paris games’ opening ceremony, and the IOC’s President Thomas Bach, who he said he was planning to “open prosecution” against, according to the Washington Post.
“There are rules in our association, in IBA. We have female sports and male sports, and we have to protect them on equal basis,” Kremlev said later, through translators. “They all have equal rights to be protected and defended.”
Welterweight Imane Khelif from Algeria wipes her face after a fight against Luca Anna Hamori from Hungary (not pictured).
Sina Schuldt/picture alliance via Getty Images
The other IBA officials tried to take a more defensive tone.
“We never intended to raise any of these issues at this event, because this is not our event. This event belongs to the IOC,” said Chris Roberts, the IBA’s secretary general, insisting that they only responded after concerns were raised after the bout between Khelif and Italy’s Angela Carini.
The IBA again provided no details on the results of the tests, claiming that the Olympic committees of Algeria and Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) did not give them permission to release the boxers’ medical records.
“We’re not able to disclose the results of any tests, but you can read between the lines about where that sits,” Roberts said.
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After insisting that Khelif and Lin “allowed” the IBA to conduct their tests, Kremlev said “these testing [sic] show that they have a high level of testosterone. Like men. They have men’s level of testosterone. We cannot go further in our investigation—whether they were born like men, or some changes intervened at the later stages.”
Prior to Monday, the IBA consistently stated that Khelif and Lin were not tested for testosterone levels. Instead, the organization said they were given a “separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential.”
Kremlev insisted the only thing the IBA could do at this stage was ban the women to “protect the athletes.”
About an hour and a half into the press conference, a woman in the back of the room began shouting “viva l’Algerie” and waving an Algerian flag. She was later identified as Roumaissa Boualam, one of Khelif’s teammates and a boxer in the flyweight division.
Eboni Boykin-Patterson
After insisting that Khelif and Lin “allowed” the IBA to conduct their tests, Kremlev said “these testing [sic] show that they have a high level of testosterone. Like men. They have men’s level of testosterone. We cannot go further in our investigation—whether they were born like men, or some changes intervened at the later stages.”
Prior to Monday, the IBA consistently stated that Khelif and Lin were not tested for testosterone levels. Instead, the organization said they were given a “separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential.”
Kremlev insisted the only thing the IBA could do at this stage was ban the women to “protect the athletes.”
About an hour and a half into the press conference, a woman in the back of the room began shouting “viva l’Algerie” and waving an Algerian flag. She was later identified as Roumaissa Boualam, one of Khelif’s teammates and a boxer in the flyweight division.
Taipei's Yu Ting Lin, red, raises her arm in victory as Uzebekistan's Sitora Turdibekova looks away at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
After the disastrous press conference, the IBA posted a long release with photos of confirmation letters to Khelif, Lin, and the IOC.
In the complaint they sent to the IOC in June 2023, the IBA made no mention of testosterone and only said “the disqualification took place after the IBA had conducted two gender tests which concluded the boxer’s DNA was that of [LONG REDACTION] chromosomes.”
They again referred to the IBA’s official definition of male and female—which the organization defines as having either XX or XY chromosomes. Some women born with Swyer syndrome, a rare genetic condition, are born with XY chromosomes, according to the National Institute of Health.
The IOC acknowledged that it received the IBA’s letter, but did not promise to do anything with the results—only confirming that boxers at the Paris Olympics and qualifying events would be managed by the IOC.
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