The International Olympic Committee, through its spokesman Mark Adams, has come out in support of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who was involved in a controversial bout in the women’s boxing tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Thursday.
Adams said the two boxers, who participated in the women’s boxing event, were eligible to fight as women despite claims from Khelif’s opponent, Angela Carini, saying she might be a transgender athlete.
“The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport,” Mark Adams, IOC spokesman, said on Friday. “This is not a transgender case. I know you’re not saying that, but there has been some confusion that somehow, it’s a man fighting a woman.
“This is just not the case scientifically. On that there is consensus. Scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman. And I think we need to kind of get that. This woman has competed for a very, very long time in women’s sport, against many opponents, in fact, against Italian boxers twice in the last couple of years, I think.”
Khelif won her opening Olympic boxing fight against the Italian Carini, who quit after just 46 seconds, saying the pain she felt from the Algerian’s punch was different from anything she had endured in her career.
Carini didn’t shake Khelif’s hand after the decision was announced, but the Italian cried in the ring, adding that she wasn’t refusing to fight Khelif, and neither was she making a political statement.
In March 2023, Khelif was suspended by the International Boxing Association for high levels of testosterone in her body system, but the independent body organising the boxing event at the Paris 2024 Olympics finds her eligible to compete as a woman, which has become a divisive issue.
However, despite the uproar, the Algeria Olympic Committee and the IOC have stood by the 2022 African Boxing Champion, with Adams confirming that Khelif has always been eligible to compete as a woman and debunking any reports of a test carried out on the Algerian boxer.
“I think the question you have to ask yourself is, are these athletes women?” he said. “The answer is yes according to eligibility, according to passports, according to their history.”
“A test which may have happened overnight was made up test which is new, I don’t think we should give that any credence at all. If we start acting on every issue, every allegation that comes up then we start having the kind of witch hunts that we’re having now.
“This is a minefield. And unfortunately, as with all minefields we want a simple explanation. Everyone wants a black and white explanation of how we can determine this. That explanation does not exist. Neither in the scientific community nor anywhere else,” Adams added.
