The Inevitable Crisis of Olympic Boxing » August 7, 2024

By Mauricio Sulaiman
WBC President – ​​Son of José Sulaimán

The news that flooded the networks and tarnished the activity at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is regrettable, and clearly exposes the crisis that amateur/Olympic boxing is going through.

Two female boxers have been accused of being transgender, having XY (male) chromosomes or another condition, which, when fighting a woman, gives them an unfair competitive advantage.

The attacks and messages continue. The vast majority without having the minimum elements to express an informed and relevant opinion. The central and most serious factor that should count is the integrity, safety and well-being of the athletes.

The main conflict has been the media war between the IOC and the IBA, the International Federation recognized by the same entity. They have taken center stage by attacking each other, in an obvious power struggle that will not solve the underlying problem.

Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting are the fighters in question. Without definitive proof, they were born XX (female), they were not trans and they were apparently not born with the Y chromosome, but they have a genetic condition that gives them significant physical advantages.

It is not the fault of Imane and Lin, who are subjected to attacks, contempt and derision. Everything is mixed up, from science and medicine, to homophobia, sexism, human rights, laws, rules and even the abandonment of common sense to attack them.

The reality is that their rivals enter the ring taking unacceptable risks. Boxing is not a game, it is a contact sport.

All the problems started more than 15 years ago, when AIBA, the International Amateur Boxing Federation, in charge of everything related to Olympic boxing, recognized by the IOC since the 1940s, elected Wu Ching-Ko as its president.

He introduced and led a series of changes that were highly questionable at the time, and the IOC did nothing to address them. AIBA chose the financial and commercial path to the detriment of the athletes’ interests; it became a promoter, a manager and an organization, with major and blatant conflicts of interest.

They removed the protective helmet and the most serious measure was to allow and promote the participation of professionals in Olympic boxing.

Today, the scandal is focused on these two boxers, but it could very well be a very powerful world champion against a young fighter, in search of the Olympic dream.

The IBA, formerly AIBA, attacked the IOC and made public the disqualification of the two fighters from its competition in 2023, alluding to the fact that they had XY (male) chromosomes. It was an attack that was obviously planned and kept secret until a few days ago.

The IOC has committed to responding to them regarding the disqualification of these two fighters, citing discrimination and human rights concerns.

Enough! The important thing here is to learn and know the reality. Do Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting have XY chromosomes, or the condition that gives them an advantage over their rivals? Yes or no?

If this is the case, then it is indisputable that they have greater strength, endurance, speed, testosterone levels and muscle mass.

This gives them a great competitive advantage, eliminates fair play and endangers the health of their rivals.

We are not talking about breaking a time record or scoring goals, we are talking about boxing, a contact sport, where the opponent can be injured.

The WBC has been fighting against all types of discrimination since its inception. We have also conducted extensive studies and scientific research to create rules for women’s boxing, different from those for men. We have studied and proposed the creation of a boxing program for trans athletes, and we will always have as our top priority the health and physical integrity of those who enter the ring, before, during and after the fights.

The reality is that Olympic boxing has been without governance since 2018-19, when AIBA was suspended as an IOC affiliated federation and ultimately expelled.

The Tokyo Olympics, like the Paris Olympics, are administered by an IOC committee, not an international boxing federation. The rules and eligibility processes remain the same as those established by AIBA at the end of Rio 2016, and that includes the fact that there are no parameters to measure the level of competition between fighters; in other words, in theory, Canelo could fight a youngster at the Olympics. That is not the ethics of participation. It would rather be a way of dismantling an opponent!

The WBC has flatly rejected professionals from Olympic boxing until there is a clear definition of eligibility to achieve parity in the level of competition. In the professional arena, a beginner fights four rounds against boxers of that level, could not fight against an eight rounder, a ten rounder or a world champion. It is as simple, clear and obvious as that.

The IOC has chosen to attack the IBA and defend the reasons why Khelif and Yu-ting are participating, when in world opinion they should be taking proactive steps, addressing concerns about the dangers of these fights in a timely manner.

The IOC is under attack, but the vast majority of them are malicious, and without any information about the situation.

There are procedures and the statutes are clear in the sense that the rules cannot be changed during the competition. It also gets complicated when other factors come into play, such as human rights and codes of ethics.

Unfortunately, this problem was not resolved at the time and it is all a result of the mismanagement that our sport has experienced at the Olympic level over the last two decades. We pray to God that nothing regrettable happens in the remaining fights.

It is urgent that the affiliation of a new International Federation in charge of boxing be made official to the IOC. There is a Federation called World Boxing (WB), more countries need to join to be recognized by the IOC. The WB is a reality, and it is the only option to save boxing and its permanence at the Olympic Games, since to date, it is out of the running for Los Angeles 2028.

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