PARIS — The Worldwide Olympic Committee on Thursday defended its resolution to permit two feminine boxers to compete on the Paris Olympics regardless of an ongoing gender controversy, saying the pair had been going through “aggression” due to an arbitrary resolution.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif, who received her spherical of 16 welterweight bout over Italy’s Angela Carini in 46 seconds, and Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting, who’s preventing on Friday, have been cleared to compete within the Olympics.
Khelif’s lightning-quick win over Carini, who determined to drag out after a barrage of punches, piled extra stress on the IOC for permitting Khelif and Lin to field in Paris.
“The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the 2 athletes are at the moment receiving,” the IOC mentioned in an announcement Thursday. “Each particular person has the correct to follow sport with out discrimination.”
Khelif and Lin had been disqualified by the Worldwide Boxing Affiliation on the 2023 world championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility take a look at.
The IBA was stripped of its recognition by the IOC final 12 months over governance and finance points, and the Olympic physique is now operating the boxing competitors in Paris.
The IOC mentioned the IBA resolution to disqualify the boxers final 12 months was arbitrary and the primary trigger for the furor that has seen folks akin to British creator J. Ok. Rowling and billionaire Elon Musk voice their opposition to them competing within the Video games.
“These two athletes had been the victims of a sudden and arbitrary resolution by the IBA,” the IOC mentioned in its assertion. “In the direction of the tip of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they had been abruptly disqualified with none due course of.
“In accordance with the IBA minutes obtainable on their web site, this resolution was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary Common and CEO.”
The IBA issued an announcement Wednesday by which it mentioned each boxers didn’t have a “testosterone examination” final 12 months however had been “topic to a separate and acknowledged take a look at” for his or her disqualification. The IBA mentioned the take a look at’s “specifics stay confidential” and refused to elucidate it.
In a second assertion Thursday, the IBA condemned “inconsistencies in eligibility” on the Video games.
“Each Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting put up testing, didn’t meet the required eligibility standards to compete throughout the feminine class of our respective occasions,” the physique added.
“The pressing nature of the choice (to disqualify the boxers) was justified, as the protection of our boxers is our high precedence.”
The IOC mentioned the principles of eligibility this 12 months had been based mostly on these of the Tokyo Video games in 2021 and can’t be modified throughout a contest.
“The present aggression towards these two athletes relies totally on this arbitrary resolution, which was taken with none correct process — particularly contemplating that these athletes had been competing in top-level competitors for a few years,” the IOC mentioned.
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.