Imane Khelif is ‘male’, disqualified from world championships, IBA says; Algeria hits back amid Olympics gender row

The International Boxing Association (IBA), on August 5, accused Imane Khelif of being biologically male. The gender of the Algerian boxer is under the radar after Italy’s Angela Carini stopped fighting at the Paris Olympics 2024 after 46 seconds.

Carini’s withdrawal caused a major controversy at the Summer Olympics. The Italian boxer said she had been hit harder than ever and feared her nose was broken.

“I went to the ring to honour my father. I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this,” Carini said.

Khelif, as well as Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, was allowed to compete in the Paris Olympics 2024 even though she had been disqualified from the women's boxing world championships in 2023 for not passing gender eligibility tests.

During a press conference on August 5 in Paris, IBA officials aimed to explain the tests conducted on Khelif and Lin last year, as well as their results. However, they were limited by medical confidentiality.

Former IBA medical committee chairman Ioannis Filippatos mentioned that blood tests in 2022 had revealed abnormalities in both boxers. According to IBA officials, further tests in 2023 confirmed these findings, leading to their disqualification.

"The medical result, blood result, looks -- and the laboratory says -- that this boxer is male. The problem is that we have two blood exams with karyotype of male. This is the answer from the laboratory," AFP quoted Filippatos as saying.

A karyotype is “an individual's complete set of chromosomes”, as per the US National Human Genome Research Institute.

Algeria hits back

The Algerian Olympic and Sports Committee swiftly responded. Algeria does not belong to the IBA, it said. According to the committee, it does not view the IBA as a legitimate organisation and does not consider it linked to the Olympic Games.

"Our champion, Imane Khelif, remains untouched and undeterred by the baseless claims of the IBA," the committee added.