Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting: Boxing eligibility row key questions

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Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting: Boxing eligibility row key questions

In 2021, the IOC

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, asking individual sports federations to develop eligibility policies of their own, rather than insisting on a blanket policy based on testosterone levels.

However, with the IOC currently in charge of Olympic boxing due to the dispute with the IBA, and as the controversy around Khelif and Lin has erupted, it has faced mounting pressure to come up with stricter rules of its own to protect the women’s category, and ensure fairness and safety.

This is especially the case after a number of sports federations have toughened up their own **** eligibility regulations in recent years, banning transgender women from elite female competition, and insisting that athletes with differences in **** development (DSD) medically lower their testosterone levels. There is no suggestion that Khelif and Lin are transgender.

The IOC’s eligibility rules for boxing therefore have not kept pace with other sports. The IOC abandoned genetic gender testing in 1999 and seems opposed to changing the rules, partly for ***** of stigmatising people, saying that “every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination”.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: “It is not as easy as some may now want to portray it – that XX or XY is the clear distinction between men and women. This is scientifically not true anymore.”

However, Bach also said: “If somebody is presenting us a scientifically solid system – how to identify man and woman – we’re the first ones to do it. We do not like this uncertainty. So, we would be more than pleased to look into it.”

An IOC spokesman has also said that this “is not a ****** and white issue”

They added: “There are many women with higher testosterone levels than men so the idea that a test is some kind of magic bullet is not true. This is a minefield. If we can find a consensus we will certainly work to apply that. This is a question in all sports, we are open to listen to anyone with a solution to that question. The IOC is always trying to balance inclusivity and fairness, to put it more broadly, also safety. That is a difficult one and something we will have to look at.”

The IOC’s critics argue that achieving such a balance is impossible, and that fairness and safety must be prioritised.

The boxing controversy has fuelled demands for mandatory **** testing at future Olympics, with campaigners calling for the return of a cheek swab test (which the IOC moved away from in 2000). They say that the vast majority of female athletes are in favour of this. However, others have argued that more comprehensive testing is required to be sure about an individual-s genetic makeup, which would raise concerns over cost and invasiveness.

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#Imane #Khelif #Lin #Yuting #Boxing #eligibility #row #key #questions

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