The International Olympic Committee's decision to allow two athletes who failed gender tests during last year's World Championship to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics' female boxing category raises "serious questions about both competitive fairness and athletes' safety," the International Boxing Association said in a Thursday statement.
"Our committees have rigorously reviewed and endorsed the decision made during the World Championships," the IBA, the organization that banned Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif in 2023, said in a statement. "While IBA remains committed to ensuring competitive fairness in all of our events, we express concern over the inconsistent application of eligibility criteria by other sporting organizations, including those overseeing the Olympic Games."
Khelif won her first Paris bout Thursday when her opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, quit after 46 seconds. Even though Carini said she wasn't making a political statement about Khelif, Carini's tearful abandonment of the bout became a worldwide sensation on social media and in Western culture wars.
Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan won her opening Olympic boxing bout on Friday, beating Sitora Turdibekova 5:0 in the women's 57-kilogram division.
Criticism of the two boxers is based partly in the policies and decisions of the IBA, which has been out of the Olympic movement since 2019 after years of IOC concerns about its leadership, integrity, and financial transparency.
The Associated Press reported that the IBA disqualified Khelif from its world championships because of what it said were elevated levels of testosterone, and it stripped Lin of a bronze medal because it claimed she failed to meet unspecified eligibility requirements in a biochemical test.
The IBA in a statement said the athletes "did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential."
"This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors," it added.
The IOC said it was saddened "by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving" and that the pair "were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA.
"Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
"According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say that the IBA should "establish a clear procedure on gender testing.
"The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years."