- IBA against Imane Khelif: The Boxing Federation of Evil
It's the biggest Olympic controversy so far: Angela Carini's bout against Imane Khelif in the women's boxing round of 16. "I've never been hit that hard," Carini cried, moments after she stopped the fight against Khelif after just 46 seconds and two headshots.
What Carini's statement implied: She didn't face a woman in the ring, Khelif was a biological man who hit harder than any of her opponents. Khelif won unfairly, was the indirect accusation that sparked outrage on social media.
Thousands of users posted hate comments against Khelif for days. First, it was rumored that she was a trans woman born as a man. When that proved false, speculation turned to her having male XY chromosomes, making her intersex.
Suddenly, there were perpetrators and victims
One thing was clear: Khelif won unfairly, and Carini was a victim. There was no evidence to support the rumors about Khelif's gender. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) intervened, Carini apologized for her tearful interview statements, and Khelif warned about the damage such hate could cause.
The sports world eagerly awaited a Monday afternoon press conference, where the International Boxing Association (IBA) promised to shed light on the case. The controversial organization had excluded Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu Ting from the 2023 Boxing World Championships after unspecified gender tests. And the event was set to be a bombshell.
Imane Khelif was "not allowed" for the 2022 WM
The Q&A session started an hour late due to technical issues. Present were IBA CEO Chris Roberts, doctor Dr. Ioannis Filippatos, and secretary general Gabriele Martelli. IBA president Umar Kremlev joined via video from Russia.
In an opening statement, Roberts said they would reveal details about why the IBA disqualified Khelif and Yu Ting from last year's World Championships. The timeline of their tests went like this: Concerns about the two athletes' gender were raised by boxers and coaches at the 2022 Worlds in Istanbul, leading to a blood test. The results were inconclusive, so a second test was needed, Roberts said.
On March 17, 2023, a second blood test was conducted on both boxers. These tests showed that neither should be allowed to compete in women's events. Khelif and Yu Ting were subsequently excluded from the Worlds on March 26, 2023.
IBA President Umar Kremlev attacks IOC
Then, IBA President Umar Kremlev's face was projected behind the three officials via video livestream. He spoke of "killing" women's boxing and "destroying" the integrity of women's sports, blaming the IOC for allowing athletes like Khelif and Yu Ting with unclear gender identities to compete. The IBA, he argued, was the only body capable of standing up for the athletes.
Kremlev delivered a 20-minute monologue that didn't sound thought-out, but rather like a disjointed rant, with frequent and biting attacks on Thomas Bach, the IOC president, whom Kremlev seems to see as a personal enemy. Bach had recently criticized the IBA more and more.
The gain in knowledge from this bizarre event is currently zero. The details mentioned (and scant) were already public. When Dr. Ioannis Filippatos, a specialist, steps in for Mirko, attendees hope for clarity but only become more confused.
Guest Doctor Feels Out of Place
Filippatos' role at the event seems clear: he's supposed to give scientific legitimacy to the IBA position. However, through his demeanor and sometimes incoherent statements, he achieves the opposite. He says he's been a doctor for 30 years and is "about 59 years old" and prefers practicing medicine over giving press conferences. He's also the European president of the IBA but emphasizes that he's speaking as a doctor. He's an expert in in-vitro fertilization, a type of artificial insemination performed in a lab. Why his expertise is relevant to the case remains unclear.
The event now feels completely surreal. Filippatos jumps from one topic to another, goes in circles, and never gets to the point. "You must know the truth," he says. Then he adds that he respects Thomas Bach's view but not his view that the science behind the bans of Khelif and Lin is poor. "For me, the science is not poor."
Filippatos explains that the IBA is required to determine whether certain boxers are men or women, which is why they started testing the boxers. Then it gets completely bizarre: "I've performed 5000 operations, and I don't know how many babies I've delivered. It's not possible to say that you don't know what a woman is. Let the doctors speak!"
Hot Air and Fireworks
With each passing minute, it becomes clearer: the IBA has no interest in genuine clarification. Critical questions, such as those about funding from the Russian state corporation Gazprom, are brushed aside, functionaries see themselves as victims, and President Kremlev's repeated angry monologues almost seem comical.
The mood in the room seems to be heating up, the attending journalists feel their questions are being overlooked, and occasionally, it gets loud when a speaker box explodes. The clarifying press conference is as chaotic as the debate over Imane Khelif.
A final clarification would be desirable – for the people and the sport.
In the chaotic press conference, the International Boxing Association (IBA) revealed that Imane Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu Ting were disqualified from the 2023 Boxing World Championships due to failed gender tests. The tests, conducted after concerns were raised during the 2022 World Championships, showed that both athletes had biological characteristics that made them ineligible for women's events, having XY chromosomes of circular cross-section.
