An Algerian boxer in the centre of an Olympics gender eligibility row has accused those opposed to her presence at the Games of being bullies as the Russian head of the International Boxing Association, Umar Kremlev, launched a fresh barrage of criticism at a chaotic press conference.
Imane Khelif, who is assured of at least a bronze medal ahead of her next bout on Tuesday, said she hoped that a gold medal would come out of the pain she had endured over the past week.
“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects,” Khelif said. “It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”
Khelif, a welterweight, and Lin Yu-ting, a featherweight from Taiwan (competing as Chinese Taipei), who is also assured of a bronze, are competing in Paris despite the IBA claiming that they failed to meet their gender eligibility rules last year.
The two athletes’ presence became headline news after the Italian boxer Angela Carini abandoned her bout against Khelif after 46 seconds of the fight, claiming she had never been hit harder.
The IOC has described the tests undertaken on Khelif and Lin by the IBA, which was stripped of its status as the sport’s governing body last year over issues relating to integrity and corruption, as lacking credibility.
A press conference was called by the IBA in Paris on Monday to explain their position but it was overshadowed by lengthy and rambling interventions by Kremlev who attended via a video-link from an office believed to be in Moscow.
He criticised the Games’ opening ceremony as “something horrible for all Christians and Muslims around the world”, insulted Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee, and claimed that the tests undertaken by his doctors had found a “men’s level of testosterone” in the two boxers.
The IBA’s doctor Ioannis Filippatos and the chief executive of the boxing organisation, Chris Roberts, a former head of Scottish boxing, later said, however, that the athletes had chromosome tests rather than one for testosterone.
“The results of the chromosome tests demonstrated both boxers were ineligible,” Roberts told reporters.
Roberts said that there had been two blood tests conducted on Khelif and Lin. The first was in May 2022 and a laboratory in Istanbul had found “inconsistencies”. A further test was carried out eight months later at the world championships at which point the IBA declared the two fighters ineligible to fight in the women’s competition.
Roberts said that he was unable to say more about the test results after being warned off by the organising committees of Algeria and Taiwan (Chinese Taipei).
Roumaysa Boualam, an Algerian teammate of Khelif who is an African champion and was the first female boxer to represent her country at an Olympic Games in 2021, attended the press conference with her national flag.
She said: “I came here to refute the rumours about Imane Khelif and offer her my support. This is the case for me, but also for all the Algerian supporters and journalists present here, who know the truth.
“As Algerians, these rumours affect us all. Our goal is for Imane to win the gold medal. As a boxer, I am well placed to talk about Imane. I have shared many events and competitions with her. Unable to beat her in the ring, some tried to disrupt her.”
The IOC has said that both Khelif and Lin, who were registered as women at birth and held passports as females, were eligible to compete in Paris.
Asked about his position on the row, the World Athletics president, Sebastian Coe, suggested that the controversy had spiralled due to a lack of clarity around the IOC’s rules.
“It’s unvarnished, have a policy,” he said. “Be clear and have a policy. You’re never going to make everybody happy but you have to plant the flagpole down somewhere and that’s why it was so important for us.
“I did five years on the British Boxing Board of Control as an administrative steward, and I have daughters. How do you think I feel about this? But in a way that’s incidental.
“The most important thing is to have a policy, be clear cut about it and have a policy that you are able to stand behind because it’s your north star. If you don’t, then you get into this sort of territory.”
The IBA has been criticised for taking sponsorship from the Russian state-controlled company Gazprom. Asked about the IBA’s funding, Roberts told reporters a full audit would be published at a meeting in Cuba. When asked about his own salary, he responded: “It’s got nothing to do with you”.
