Last year, two athletes were disqualified from The Women’s World Boxing Championships after questions surfaced regarding their biological sex. This week, those two athletes will compete in the Paris Olympics — as women.
As reported by Reduxx, both Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting were removed from the 10-day event in New Delhi, India, in March 2023. Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), announced the disqualifications after he met with executives to discuss "fairness among athletes and professionalism." He said that after "a series of DNA-tests," the IBA "uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretend to be women."
Kremlev told TASS News that the tests had proven the athletes in question "had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded from the sports events."
Khelif had been set to take on Yang Liu of China in the welterweight final but was removed before the gold medal fight. In a statement, the IBA wrote that Khelif was DQ-ed "due to the failure to meet the IBA eligibility criteria." But the Algerian Olympic Committee claimed the disqualification was just a "conspiracy" to prevent Algeria from having a gold medal in boxing.
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