Imane Khelif Gender Controversy: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognised international governing body of Olympic style boxing, World Boxing, has implemented a new policy of mandatory sex testing of all female boxers who want to compete in its events, to begin at the 2026 World Championships, which will take place in Liverpool in early September 2026. The rule mandates the athlete to take a PCR or equivalent genetic test to identify the presence of Y chromosome material effectively ruling that the person is biologically a male at birth.
Why was this policy introduced?
Originally, this policy was caused by the necessity to provide safety and fairness in the sport and keep it inclusive, said World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst. Athletes who have the Y chromosome cannot automatically be disqualified, instead athletes with DSD that have affected their androgenization have to compete in the men field unless they pass through additional tests, such as genetic testing, hormone testing, anatomical evaluation, and an evaluation by an endocrinologist and be given the opportunity of appeals.
Imane Khelif and sex testing implementation
This announcement has also been met with a lot of controversy where Imane Khelif, the Algerian Olympic gold medal winner was mentioned in previous correspondence on sex testing implementation. The announcement saw Khelif withdrawing out of a June event in the Netherlands. World Boxing subsequently apologised to her to name her without her permission. They are now disproved as she claimed never to have left training in Algeria and Qatar and is fully dedicated to boxing and is hoping to defend her Olympic champion status in 2028 at the Los Angeles Games.
In the meantime, the Taiwanese Olympic female boxing champion, Lin Yu-ting, who was involved in an earlier gender eligibility case as well, has stated she will undergo the sex test as required by World Boxing Council, and compete at the World Championships. These are coming after a protracted gender eligibility wrangle that started with the 2023 IBA World Championships, during which both Khelif and Lin were disqualified, following sex eligibility tests. The IOC would later intervene, approve their participation in Paris and condemned the disqualifications as sudden and unfair, given no due process was being allowed.
