Irish boxer speaks out in support of Olympian Imane Khelif amid gender scrutiny

The International Olympic Committee also defended the athlete, saying: "Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination".

News . Written by Alice Linehan.

Imane Khelif (left) shaking hands with Amy Broadhurst (right) and the World Boxing Championships.
Image: @amybroadhurst12 via X

Irish boxer and former world champion Amy Broadhurst has spoken out in support of Imane Khelif. The Algerian fighter is currently competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she continues to face increasing abuse and misinformation about her gender.

Khelif is a woman who has never identified as male, trans or intersex. However, in 2023, she and another athlete, Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ting, were disqualified from the International Boxing Association (IBA)’s World Championships. The former was deemed ineligible just hours before the final, while the latter was stripped of her bronze medal.

According to a recent statement from the IBA, the “disqualification was a result of their failure to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition” which states that only people with XX sex chromosomes can compete. While the organisation said the “specifics” of the examinations undertaken “remain confidential”, IBA president Umar Kremlev, previously claimed that both athletes had DNA tests that “proved they had XY chromosomes” leading to their exclusion.

It should be noted that there are alleged links between Russia and the IBA through the association’s president, and concerns have long been expressed about its governance, financial and ethical issues.

As cautioned by former Irish Olympic boxer Emmet Brennan: “The gender test came from Russian backed IBA, who have an agenda against the Olympics…so it would be hard to take what they say as gospel.”

 

However, the two boxers are allowed to compete at the Olympics as the event is overseen by a different entity. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) took over the boxing competition from the IBA in 2019 and withdrew its recognition of the organisation after claims of rigged decisions at the 2016 Rio Games.

Furthermore, this is neither Khelif nor Yun-ting’s first Olympics. Both boxers competed in the Tokyo 2020 Games, where they were knocked out in the quarterfinals and round of 16, respectively.

Regarding the gender tests, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told reporters: “Everyone competing in the women’s category…is complying with competition eligibility rules. They are women in their passports and it’s stated in there that they are female.”

Even so, there has been a dramatic increase in focus on the athletes this year, ignited further on Thursday, August 1, after Italy’s Angela Carini bowed out of her match against Khelif after just 46 seconds. She said she withdrew because of safety reasons, leading to further backlash and misinformation spread against the Algerian fighter.

While there has been a negative response from some corners, many have spoken out in support of Khelif. This includes Irish boxer Amy Broadhurst, who defeated the Algerian in the 2022 Women’s World Championship 63kg final. 

“Have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif,” she wrote on X. “Personally I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’. I think it’s the way she was born & that’s out of her control.

“The fact that she has been beat(en) by 9 females before says it all.”

 

In a follow-up tweet, Broadhurst shared, “Please the hate has been ridiculous”, alongside a photo of her and Imane Khelif shaking hands.

The IOC also put out a statement with the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit, saying: “Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination. All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU).”

The Committee continued by outlining its commitment to “protecting the human rights of all athletes participating in the Olympic Games” and added it is “saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving”.

“These two athletes 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,” the IOC concluded.

 

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