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Express Tribune
22 minutes ago
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Imane Khelif is a man: Leaked medical report shows Olympic gold-medalist in women's division has male karyotype
A leaked medical report has triggered renewed scrutiny over Algerian Olympic gold medallist Imane Khelif, allegedly identifying her as biologically male. The report, said to originate from a New Delhi laboratory, reignites the debate around eligibility in women's sport, particularly in high-impact disciplines such as boxing. The document, reportedly dated March 2023, claims Khelif possesses a male karyotype. It surfaced days after World Boxing mandated that Khelif undergo genetic sex screening before returning to female competitions. The governing body stated she is barred from participating in events, including the upcoming Eindhoven Box Cup, unless the tests are completed in line with new eligibility standards. World Boxing will introduce mandatory sex testing, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes that want to take part in its competitions. For full story, click here: #TimeForWorldBoxing — World Boxing (@RealWorldBoxing) May 30, 2025 Khelif won gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024, representing Algeria in the women's boxing category. Her participation followed a 2023 disqualification by the now-defunct International Boxing Association (IBA) over a failed gender eligibility test. At the time, questions around the legitimacy of those results were raised by then-International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. The current report, first circulated by journalist Alan Abrahamson via 3 Wire Sports, claims to originate from Dr Lal PathLabs in India, a facility certified by international and American accreditation bodies. World Boxing said the testing aligns with its revised 'Sex, Age and Weight' policy, introduced in May 2025, designed to protect athlete safety and uphold fair competition in combat sports. Under the policy, athletes aged 18 or older must undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to determine the presence of the SRY gene — a marker for the Y chromosome. The governing body explained that, while rule changes are typically approved by Congress, its executive board enacted emergency amendments due to evolving competitive risks. 'These new eligibility rules were developed with the express purpose of safeguarding athletes in combat sports,' the organisation said. Public figures including broadcaster Piers Morgan, former Olympian Sharron Davies and activist Riley Gaines reacted strongly to the alleged findings, with Morgan calling for an apology from critics of his past comments on the issue. The biology-denying woke brigade abused and shamed me for saying it was outrageous and dangerous for Khelif to be beating up women at the Olympics. I'm ready for their apology, but won't hold my breath. — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 2, 2025 Meanwhile, Davies lamented a perceived erosion of women's sport, and Gaines referred to Khelif using male pronouns. In response to previous accusations, Khelif has firmly denied claims about her gender identity and has continued public appearances following her Olympic triumph. She has previously declared her intent to defend her title at the Los Angeles Games in 2028. To all the people that insisted Imane Khelif was a woman because his passport said so, You were wrong. We were right. Sincerely, People with functioning eyes and a shred of honesty — Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 1, 2025 The Algerian Olympic Committee has rejected past reports as 'unsubstantiated allegations' designed to damage the reputation of an athlete who 'brought honour to our nation.' Khelif was not the only boxer under scrutiny in Paris. Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting also competed and won despite prior disqualification by the IBA over similar grounds. World Boxing has reiterated that athletes remain ineligible to compete if their sex certification is challenged and unresolved. The body said it aims to ensure a 'safe and competitive playing field' moving forward.
Kuwait Times
19 hours ago
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
World Boxing requires Imane Khelif to undergo new gender test
PARIS: World Boxing announced on Friday it will introduce mandatory gender testing to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes wanting to take part in its competitions. The international federation said it was introducing the policy after the furor surrounding boxers including women's welterweight gold medalist Imane Khelif of Algeria at the Paris Olympics last year. World Boxing will organize the boxing competition at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after being granted provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee. World Boxing said it had informed the Algerian Boxing Federation that Khelif would have to undergo the test if she wanted to compete at the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands on June 5-10. 'World Boxing has written to the Algerian Boxing Federation to inform it that Imane Khelif will not be allowed to participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes sex testing,' it said in a statement. Under the new policy, all athletes over 18 that want to participate in a World Boxing owned or sanctioned competition will need to undergo a PCR, or polymerase chain reaction genetic test, to determine what sex they were at birth and their eligibility to compete. The PCR test is a laboratory technique used to detect specific genetic material, in this case the SRY gene, that reveals the presence of the Y chromosome, which is an indicator of biological sex. The test can be conducted by a nasal or mouth swab, or by taking a sample of saliva or blood. National federations will be responsible for testing and will be required to confirm the sex of their athletes when entering them into World Boxing competitions by producing certification of their chromosomal sex, as determined by a PCR test. Khelif said in March: 'For me, I see myself as a girl, just like any other girl. I was born a girl, raised as a girl, and have lived my entire life as one.' The 26-year-old is targeting a second gold medal at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles after her triumph in Paris. Her success, along with that of Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, sparked a raging gender eligibility debate, with high-profile figures such as US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk weighing in. Khelif and Lin were disqualified from the International Boxing Association's 2023 world championships after the organization, the long-standing governing body of amateur boxing, said they had failed gender eligibility tests. The IOC has severed links with the IBA over financial, governance and ethical concerns. The IBA is led by the Kremlin-linked Russian Umar Kremlev. Last month the IOC provisionally recognized World Boxing as the body to oversee the sport at future Games. — AFP
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Olympic boxing champ Imane Khelif must undergo genetic sex screening to fight for new governing body
Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif must undergo genetic sex screening to participate in upcoming events with the sport's new governing body. World Boxing announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes Friday. The governing body specifically mentioned Khelif when announcing the policy, saying the Algerian gold medal winner must be screened before she will be approved to fight at any upcoming events, including the Eindhoven Box Cup next month in the Netherlands. Advertisement 'The introduction of mandatory testing will be part of a new policy on 'Sex, Age and Weight' to ensure the safety of all participants and deliver a competitive level playing field for men and women,' World Boxing wrote in a statement. The fighters' national federations will be responsible for administering the tests and providing the results to World Boxing. Khelif won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics last summer amid international scrutiny on her and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, another gold medal winner. The previous governing body for Olympic boxing, the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association, disqualified both fighters from its 2023 world championships after claiming they had failed an unspecified eligibility test. The IOC ran the past two Olympic boxing tournaments after the banishment of the IBA for decades of misdeeds and controversy, and it applied the sex eligibility rules used in previous Olympics. Khelif and Lin were eligible to compete under those standards. Khelif intends to return to international competition next month in Eindhoven as part of her plan to defend her gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, but some boxers and their federations had already spoken out to protest her inclusion. Advertisement Chromosome testing was common in Olympic sports during the 20th century, but was largely abandoned in the 1990s because of numerous ambiguities that couldn't be easily resolved by the tests, collectively known as differences in sex development (DSD). Many sports switched to hormone testing to determine sex eligibility, but those tests require governing bodies to make difficult decisions on the eligibility of women with naturally high testosterone levels. Three months ago, World Athletics — the governing body for track and field — became the first Olympic sport to reintroduce chromosome testing, requiring athletes who compete in the women's events to submit to the test once in their careers. World Boxing has been provisionally approved to replace the IBA as the governing body at the Los Angeles Games, but it has faced significant pressure from boxers and their federations to create sex eligibility standards. World Boxing announced that all athletes over 18 years old in its competitions must undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) genetic test to determine their sex at birth. The PCR test detects chromosomal material through a mouth swab, saliva or blood. Advertisement If an athlete intending to compete in the women's categories is determined to have male chromosomal material, 'initial screenings will be referred to independent clinical specialists for genetic screening, hormonal profiles, anatomical examination or other valuation of endocrine profiles by medical specialists,' World Boxing wrote. The policy also includes an appeals process. The boxing body's decision is the latest development in a tumultuous period in Olympic sex eligibility policy. The issue of transgender participation in sports has become an international flashpoint, with President Donald Trump and other conservative world leaders repeatedly weighing in. Earlier this year, World Athletics also proposed recommendations that would apply strict rules to athletes who were born female but had what the organization describes as naturally occurring testosterone levels in the typical male range. In 2023, World Athletics banned transgender athletes who had transitioned male to female and gone through male puberty. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said he felt confident that the body's new rules would withstand legal challenges. Advertisement The 26-year-old Khelif had competed in women's boxing events under the IBA's auspices without controversy until the 2023 world championships. She had never won a major international competition before her dominant performance in the women's welterweight division in Paris. ___ AP boxing: Greg Beacham, The Associated Press
1News
2 days ago
- Sport
- 1News
Olympic boxer to undergo genetic sex screening for new governing body
Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif must undergo genetic sex screening to participate in upcoming events with the sport's new governing body. World Boxing announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes. The governing body specifically mentioned Khelif when announcing the policy, saying the Algerian gold medal winner must be screened before she will be approved to fight at any upcoming events, including the Eindhoven Box Cup next month in the Netherlands. "The introduction of mandatory testing will be part of a new policy on 'Sex, Age and Weight' to ensure the safety of all participants and deliver a competitive level playing field for men and women," World Boxing wrote in a statement. The fighters' national federations will be responsible for administering the tests and providing the results to World Boxing. Khelif won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics last summer amid international scrutiny on her and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, another gold medal winner. The previous governing body for Olympic boxing, the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association, disqualified both fighters from its 2023 world championships after claiming they had failed an unspecified eligibility test. The IOC ran the past two Olympic boxing tournaments after the banishment of the IBA for decades of misdeeds and controversy, and it applied the sex eligibility rules used in previous Olympics. Khelif and Lin were eligible to compete under those standards. ADVERTISEMENT Khelif intends to return to international competition next month in Eindhoven as part of her plan to defend her gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, but some boxers and their federations had already spoken out to protest her inclusion. Chromosome testing was common in Olympic sports during the 20th century but was largely abandoned in the 1990s because of numerous ambiguities that couldn't be easily resolved by the tests, collectively known as differences in sex development (DSD). Many sports switched to hormone testing to determine sex eligibility, but those tests require governing bodies to make difficult decisions on the eligibility of women with naturally high testosterone levels. Three months ago, World Athletics — the governing body for track and field — became the first Olympic sport to reintroduce chromosome testing, requiring athletes who compete in the women's events to submit to the test once in their careers. World Boxing has been provisionally approved to replace the IBA as the governing body at the Los Angeles Games, but it has faced significant pressure from boxers and their federations to create sex eligibility standards. World Boxing announced that all athletes over 18 years old in its competitions must undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) genetic test to determine their sex at birth. The PCR test detects chromosomal material through a mouth swab, saliva or blood. If an athlete intending to compete in the women's categories is determined to have male chromosomal material, "initial screenings will be referred to independent clinical specialists for genetic screening, hormonal profiles, anatomical examination or other valuation of endocrine profiles by medical specialists", World Boxing wrote. The policy also includes an appeals process. ADVERTISEMENT The boxing body's decision is the latest development in a tumultuous period in Olympic sex eligibility policy. The issue of transgender participation in sports has become an international flashpoint, with President Donald Trump and other conservative world leaders repeatedly weighing in. Earlier this year, World Athletics also proposed recommendations that would apply strict rules to athletes who were born female but had what the organisation describes as naturally occurring testosterone levels in the typical male range. In 2023, World Athletics banned transgender athletes who had transitioned male to female and gone through male puberty. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said he felt confident that the body's new rules would withstand legal challenges. The 26-year-old Khelif had competed in women's boxing events under the IBA's auspices without controversy until the 2023 world championships. She had never won a major international competition before her dominant performance in the women's welterweight division in Paris.
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- Sport
- New Indian Express
Olympic champ Khelif has to undergo gender test to continue fighting
CHENNAI: If the Paris Olympic Games were to be held this summer, then Imane Khelif might not have competed. The World Boxing (WB) has now come out with a contentious decision on "mandatory sex testing". All boxers, including Khelif, will have to undergo the test. The WB is right now the International Olympic Committee-recognised body and crossed the 100-national federation mark recently. This is not the first time she would be ineligible, the boxer was banned by the now-defunct International Boxing Association during the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi. The WB said in a late night statement that it would "introduce mandatory sex testing, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes that want to take part in its competitions." Gender issues overshadowed the Paris Olympic Games, at least towards the last few days. The Paris Boxing Unit was in charge of conducting the event in the absence of a IOC-recognised body. As is usually the case, boxing without controversy seems like a pipedream. The crisis this time was not so much about refereeing but a decision that did not go down too well with quite a few national boxing federations and it was related to gender. Two boxers – Khelif of Algeria and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting — were the centre of attention then. Italy's Angela Carini withdrew merely 46 seconds into the first bout against Khelif, because of the pain she felt from those opening punches. The IOC had said in a statement then that the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport and she was a born female. Despite the noise, Khelif had gone on to capture the gold medal then. The WB has also written to the Algerian Boxing Federation of their decision and informed them that Khelif will not be eligible to fight any of the WB events until she undergoes sex testing. "Imane Khelif may not participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup, 5-10 June 2025 and any World Boxing event until Khelif undergoes genetic sex test..."
