IOC President Thomas Bach’s Unprofessional Comment toward Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif Amid Boxing Gender Controversy in Paris 2024

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has criticized the “hate speech” that has emerged in response to the gender eligibility controversy surrounding boxers Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Bach defended the IOC’s decision to allow the athletes to compete despite their disqualification from last year’s boxing World Championships for not meeting gender eligibility criteria set by the International Boxing Association (IBA).

On Thursday, Algeria’s Imane Khelif won her bout in just 46 seconds, with her opponent Angela Carini commenting that she had never experienced such a powerful punch. Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting also secured a unanimous decision victory in her women’s featherweight (-57kg) fight against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova on Friday.

Both fighters have long competed in female boxing events, but the IBA, which conducted the eligibility tests in 2023, stated that they did not meet the criteria for participating in women’s competitions. Doubts about the IBA’s testing methods persist as their results were not published. While IBA’s Russian president, Umar Kremlev, claimed DNA tests indicated the athletes have XY chromosomes, the IOC’s Paris 2024 media hub reported that Khelif’s test failure was attributed to “elevated levels of testosterone.”

At the boxing venue in Paris this week, Kremlev reportedly yelled at journalists, insisting that no athletes with high testosterone levels would be allowed to compete in women’s boxing, and vowed to protect female boxers in all competitions, including the Olympics.

The IBA was stripped of its role as the global boxing governing body by the IOC in June last year, with the IOC now overseeing the sport for Paris 2024.

Lin Yu Ting (left) is one of two boxers at the centre of the row (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)

In a press conference on Saturday morning, IOC president Bach addressed the criticism surrounding the two boxers and condemned the “hate speech” the pair have received on social media.

“Let’s be very clear, we are talking about women’s boxing,” Bach said. “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman. This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.

“What we see now is that some want to own the definition of who is a woman. There I can only invite them to come up with a scientific-based, new definition of who is a woman and how can somebody being born, raised, competed and having a passport as a woman cannot be considered a woman.

“If they are coming up with something, we are ready to listen, we are ready to look into it, but we will not take part in a sometimes politically motivated, cultural war. Allow me to say that what is going on in this context in social media with all this hate speech, with this aggression and abuse fuelled by this agenda is totally unacceptable.”

Carini apologised for her reaction post-fight and told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport: “All this controversy makes me sad. I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”

Thomas Bach, right, addresses reporters at a press conference in Paris (Reuters)

Bach also stressed that the controversy is “not a transgender issue”.

“This is about a woman taking part in a women’s category,” he said. “The IOC framework, which is scientifically based, applies to all federations. This is about a woman taking part in a woman’s competition. I would only like to ask each and everybody to respect these women, respect them as women and respect them as human beings.”

Khelif is in action on Saturday, where she faces Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the women’s 66kg quarter-finals.

On Friday night the Hungarian Boxing Association questioned the decision to allow the Algerian to compete and called for clarification about her participation.

Lajos Berko, a member of the Hungarian Boxing Association’s executive board, said in a statement: “On August 3, Luca will face Algeria’s Imane Khelif for a guaranteed medal semi-final. In recent hours, our federation has notified the Hungarian Olympic Committee that we object to the participation of the Algerian athlete.

“We would like to express our gratitude to the Hungarian Olympic Committee. It continuously examines what means it can use to protect Luca Hamori’s rights to fair competition based on the rules in force.