"We are witnessing the death of women's boxing. The tests show that they (Imaneh Helif and Lin Yu-Ting) are men. We can't verify what female boxers have between their legs. We don't know if they were born that way or if they were made changes", announced the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA) Usman Kremlov. He went online during the organization's emergency press conference in Paris, which was extremely chaotic.
The two athletes have been disqualified from the 2023 Women's World Cup after a sex chromosome test showed they did not meet the requirements for participation, the IBA confirmed.
In recent days, a global scandal erupted after Heliffe, in the 66-kilogram category, and Lynn, in the 57-kilogram category, were allowed to compete in the women's boxing tournament at the Paris Olympics. Both have already reached the semi-finals in their respective categories, securing at least bronze medals. The Olympic tournament is organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which excluded the IBA from its structures in June last year.
The DNA tests in question were not shown, with one of the participants - IBA general secretary Chris Roberts - responding that the decision not to publish the results was made at the request of the Algerian and Taiwanese federations, which had come a few hours earlier. Roberts added that the IBA sent the test results to the IOC, but the Olympic Committee "did nothing with them".
Alan Williams, professor of sport and exercise genomics at Manchester Metropolitan University, said that when considering whether a person has an unfair advantage, it is necessary to look at chromosomes, levels of testosterone and other hormones, and the body's response to testosterone. "This is a clinical assessment that is really very invasive. Simply looking at someone's sex chromosomes is incomplete," the professor was emphatic.
The former head of the medical commission, Ioannis Philipatos, explained: "I cannot say whether Helif was born a woman. The medical results and the laboratories say that this boxer is a man. We are not against Helif, she is a very good boxer. I have not been to the hospital , when she was born. I like Algeria. In this case, the contestants have to cooperate with the laboratories. As a doctor, I need to protect the female category."
Boxer Rumaisa Bualem was also present at the press conference, who accused the IBA of spreading false claims. "The IBA says it protects women and the participants in the tournament, but Imane must also be protected. We live in Algeria and she was born a woman," Boualem was quoted as saying by Reuters. | BGNES
