The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has cleared two boxers, previously disqualified due to testosterone and gender eligibility tests, to compete in the women’s category at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting are set to participate after meeting the IOC’s testing criteria.
Khelif was disqualified before a gold medal bout at the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi, India, due to elevated testosterone levels. Lin, a double world champion featherweight, was stripped of her bronze medal at the same event after failing a biochemical test for gender eligibility.
Barry McGuigan, former World Boxing Association (WBA) and lineal featherweight champion, expressed his shock on social media over the IOC’s decision to clear the athletes for competition. “It’s pathetic, men will become women to have an advantage in sport. What are the authorities doing about this? In boxing or any other combat sport it’s criminal,” he said on X (formerly Twitter).
It’s pathetic, men will become women to have an advantage in sport . What are the authorities doing about this ? In boxing or any other combat sport it’s criminal. It shouldn’t happen but if they slip through the net and are caught, they should be f##king jailed. https://t.co/yCj9lt6l4B
— Barry McGuigan (@ClonesCyclone) July 29, 2024
Despite the criticism, the IOC maintains that both athletes comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations and applicable medical regulations.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) has seen several transgender male-to-female competitors, including Fallon Fox, who won five of her six professional fights, several of which ended with brutal knockouts in the first round.
In 2020, the Olympics saw its first male-to-female transgender athlete qualify for the United States Olympic Marathon Trials, which they would not have qualified for if competing in the men’s division.
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