Olympics 2024: Imane Khelif’s father defends his daughter and says she was born a girl

The father of Imane Khelif has defended his daughter and says the Olympic boxer was born and raised as a girl as boxing’s gender row continues.

Algeria’s Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting are both allowed to take part in the Olympics, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) adopting different criteria to the International Boxing Association (IBA) who disqualified both from last year’s World Championships due to the results of an unspecified eligibility test.

Khelif won her round-of-16 clash with Carini in the women’s 66kg category in just 46 seconds on Thursday after the Italian quit, saying at the time: “I preferred to stop for my health,” which sparked a row over Khelif’s eligibility.

“My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl. She’s a strong girl. I raised her to be hard-working and brave. She has a strong will to work and to train,” said Imane’s father, Omar Khelif, to Sky News.

“The Italian opponent she faced was unable to defeat my daughter because my daughter was stronger and she was softer.”

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach also insisted on Saturday there was “never any doubt” that Khelif and Yu-ting are women.

“Let’s be very clear, we are talking about women’s boxing,” Bach said. “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman.

“This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.

“What we see now is that some want to own the definition of who is a woman. There I can only invite them to come up with a scientific-based, new definition of who is a woman and how can somebody being born, raised, competed and having a passport as a woman cannot be considered a woman.

“If they are coming up with something, we are ready to listen, we are ready to look into it, but we will not take part in a sometimes politically-motivated, cultural war.

“Allow me to say that what is going on in this context in social media with all this hate speech, with this aggression and abuse fuelled by this agenda is totally unacceptable.”

Bach also stressed that the controversy is “not a transgender issue”.

He added: “The IOC framework, which is scientifically based, applies to all federations. This is about a woman taking part in a woman’s competition.

“I would only like to ask each and everybody to respect these women, respect them as women and respect them as human beings.”

Carini apologised for her reaction post-fight and told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport: “All this controversy makes me sad. I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”

Khelif will face Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the 66kg quarter-finals on Saturday, but the Hungarian Boxing Federation said on Friday that it had asked the country’s Olympic Committee (MOB) and the IOC to object to Khelif’s participation.

A statement said: “The MOB is also looking after the interests of the Hungarian athlete and is therefore continuously examining the means it can use to protect Hamori’s rights to fair competition under the rules in force. The MOB president has initiated immediate consultations with the IOC director of sport to clarify the situation.”

On Friday, top seed at featherweight, Lin Yu-ting – who would have won a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships if the IBA had not disqualified her – was victorious in her opening bout, beating Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova to reach the quarter-finals, using her height and range to dictate the fight.

Lin boxes Svetlana Staneva of Bulgaria on Sunday. The Bulgarian Olympic Committee said it voiced its concerns during a meeting with the IOC’s Medical and Scientific Commission on July 27.

“We are firmly determined to defend the rights not only of Bulgarian, but of all female athletes who will be potentially harmed by the participation of representatives of the opposite sex in women’s competitions,” a statement said.

The IOC is running the boxing tournament in Paris after the IBA was stripped of its status as the global governing body for boxing last year because it failed to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues.

The IBA has defended its decision to ban both boxers as “justified” and based on safety concerns and criticised the IOC for its “inconsistencies in eligibility”.

The IBA also said it will award Carini the prize money she would have won had she become Olympic champion.

They recently announced plans to award $50,000 (£39,000) to any boxers who win a gold medal at the Games.

Now its president, Umar Kremlev, has waded into the row.

“I couldn’t look at her tears,” Kremlev said in a statement. “I am not indifferent to such situations and I can assure that we will protect each boxer.

“I do not understand why they kill women’s boxing. Only eligible athletes should compete in the ring for the sake of safety.”

Analysis: Will Khelif and Lin win medals?

Khelif and Lin have been boxing on the international circuit for a number of years.

Khelif is a previous Olympian. She boxed at the Tokyo Games in 2021. She won her first bout there but came away without a medal after losing to Ireland’s Kellie Harrington, the eventual champion, in the quarter-final.

She has become a top-level contender, reaching the final of the World Championships in 2022. Amy Broadhurst clearly outboxed her then to win the gold medal.

The following year at the World Championships in India she also reached the final. Notably she was permitted to box four times at that tournament before the IBA administered its eligibility test and disqualified her.

Khelif did not have a reputation as a power puncher on the amateur scene so it was all the more surprising to see her finish the Carini bout in under a minute.

Lin has an even longer track record in top-class amateur boxing. At the World Championships in 2016 she lost a tight bout to British star Nicola Adams. She medalled at every Worlds afterwards until 2023 when she would have taken bronze until the IBA also disqualified her for failing a gender eligibility test. She too was permitted to box several times at that tournament before being expelled.

Lin has been highly effective at these major tournaments, but has traded wins and losses with other elite operators. In the last two years Brazil’s Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu, Kazakhstan’s Karina Ibragimova and Olympic champion Sena Irie have all beaten her.

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