The International Boxing Association (IBA) has weighed in on the controversy surrounding two male boxers who are competing in female events at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
During a Monday press conference, IBA officials confirmed that their test proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that two fighters participating in Olympic women’s boxing are male.
The IBA held a press conference to address the controversy surrounding Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria.
Despite both boxers previously failing IBA gender tests, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has permitted them to fight against biological females.
The IOC has also repeatedly issued false statements claiming Yu-ting and Khelif are women, and the testing is of no concern to the IOC.
In statements reposing to the backlash, Olympic officials have even falsely claimed that both fighters were “born women.”
During the Monday presser, IBA CEO Chris Roberts said that DNA test results for the fighters “demonstrated the chromosomes we refer to in competition rules that make both boxers ineligible.”
Roberts further explained that Khelif and Yu-ting were informed that they tested for XY chromosomes – the DNA that also men have which is scientifically impossible to change.
Both men were given the opportunity to appeal the findings to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The IBA also offered to pay the majority of the appeal.
However, Roberts revealed that Yu-ting did not appeal, and Khelif appealed initially but then withdrew his appeal.
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The former Chair of the IBA Medical Committee, Dr. Ioannis Filippatos, also spoke to reporters.
Filippatos was forced to emphasize to the media that biology cannot be changed.
“Medicine is knowledge, it is not opinion,” Filippatos said.
He explained to reporters that “woke” laws allowing people to change their name or their “gender identity” cannot alter a person’s biology.
The doctor gave an example of people being allowed to change their name on official documents, noting that it will never change their biological sex.
“One passport can give us the opportunity to be men, and, tomorrow when I go back to Athens, it’s possible to go to my government and … change my name from Ioannis Filippatos to Ionnia Filippatos,” he said.
“That means I am a woman tomorrow? Please.
“The nature and the biological world do not change.”
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Taking on a swarm of journalists’ questions, Dr. Filippatos asked the press why they were attacking him for talking about medical test results.
He explained that he was stating scientific facts, not opinions.
“The blood results look and say — the laboratories — that these boxers [are] male,” he said.
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Some journalists appear to be arguing with Dr. Filippatos, demanding he further clarify whether Khelif and Lin were born female.
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) August 5, 2024
"The blood result looks and says, the laboratories, that these boxers are male." pic.twitter.com/lgs1vxPeb4
However, the IOC is standing by its position to allow the boxers to fight women.
“These athletes have been competing in senior competitions for six years with no issues,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said, according to ESPN.
“These women were eligible for this contest, remain eligible for this contest, and compete in this contest.”
“I cannot tell you if they were credible or not credible [gender tests] because the source from which they came was not credible and the basis for the tests was not credible,” Adams continued.
“For that reason, there was no consideration of whether they were correct or not correct because they had no bearing for the eligibility of boxing here.”
Khelif and Yu-ting have made it to the semifinals and are guaranteed to medal after quickly and brutally defeating female challengers.
