Trump-advance fueled permanent dispute
IOC defends itself against a gender debate against boxing association
Updated on 11.02.2025 – 11:40 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The dispute between the boxing association IBA and the IOC in relation to a gender debate continues. After a threatened lawsuit, the Olympic committee is now defending itself.
According to the announced lawsuits of the controversial boxing association IBA in the gender debate around the gold winners Lin Yu-Ting and Imane Khelif, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has resisted. “The two athletes mentioned by the IBA are not transgender athletes. They were born as women, grew up as women and fought in the women’s category during their entire boxing career,” said the Olympic organizers.
The controversial association, which had been excluded from the IOC, sees itself reinforced by Donald Trump’s decree. The US President wants to exclude trans people from women’s sports. The announcement of the IBA to complain against the fundamental procedure of the IOC in the gender debate is, according to the Olympic Committee, “another example of the IBA campaign against the IOC”. The association had announced that the public prosecutor of Switzerland will submit an official complaint. In addition, similar complaints in France and the USA are to be submitted.
The announcement of the IBA is another chapter in the constant dispute on both sides. After the two athletes triumphed in their weight classes at the games in Paris last summer, a gender debate was created. They had previously been excluded by the IBA by the 2023 World Cup to gender tests. The association had seen competitive advantages of both boxers compared to other female participants.
Both Yu-Ting and Khelif had not shown a perfect track record before Paris, the IOC said. The committee accuses the IBA that both athletes had been disqualified in 2023 without a decent procedure. The decision was “arbitrary”.
The fundamental dispute on both sides is longer: The Olympic organizers had excluded the boxing association after prior suspension in the summer of 2023.
The IOC accuses the President Umar Kremlew, among other things, lack of financial transparency and lack of integrity of the arbitration processes. The Olympic box competitions at the games in Tokyo and in Paris organized the IOC itself.