The inevitable crisis in Olympic boxing » August 6, 2024

By Mauricio Sulaimán
President of the WBC – Son of José Sulaimán

The news flooding the networks, casting the activities surrounding the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in a bad light, is regrettable and clearly exposes the crisis in which amateur/Olympic boxing finds itself.

Two female boxers have been accused of being transgender, having XY (male) chromosomes or having other conditions, which would give them an unfair competitive advantage if they fought a woman.

The attacks and messages continue. The vast majority without the minimum elements to express an informed and relevant opinion. The central and most serious factor that should matter 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 a clear power struggle that will not solve the core problem.

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

It is not Imane and Lin’s fault, who are subjected to attacks, contempt and ridicule. Everything is confused, from science and medicine, 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 with 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, responsible for everything related to Olympic boxing and 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 about them. AIBA chose the financial and commercial path, above the interests of the athletes; it became a promoter, manager and organization, with major and blatant conflicts of interest.

They removed the protective headgear and the most important step was to allow and promote the participation of professionals in Olympic boxing.

Nowadays the scandal focuses on these two female boxers, but it could also be that this was a very strong world champion versus a young fighter, pursuing the Olympic dream.

The IBA, formerly AIBA, has lashed out at the IOC and made public the disqualification of the two fighters from the 2023 competition, citing the fact that they had XY (male) chromosomes. It was an attack that was clearly planned and kept secret until a few days ago.

The IOC has set out to respond to the disqualification of these two fighters, citing discrimination and human rights concerns.

Enough! The important thing here is to 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 that is the case, then there is no doubt that they have more strength, endurance, speed, testosterone levels, and muscle mass.

This gives them a huge competitive advantage, making fair play impossible and putting the health of their rivals at great risk.

We are not talking about breaking time records or scoring goals, but about boxing, a contact sport in which the opponent can get injured.

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

The reality is that Olympic boxing has been without a governing body since 2018-2019, when AIBA was suspended as an IOC affiliated federation and eventually expelled.

The Tokyo Olympics, like the Paris Games, are managed by an IOC committee and not an international boxing federation. The rules and eligibility procedures remain the same as those established by AIBA at the end of Rio 2016, and that includes the fact that there is no parameter to measure the level of competition between fighters; that is, in theory, Canelo could fight a young fighter at the Olympics. That is not the ethos of participation. It would rather tear an opponent apart!

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

The IOC chose to attack and defend the IBA for allowing Khelif and Yu-ting to participate, while world opinion believes they should take proactive action and address concerns about the dangers of these fights in a timely manner.

The IOC is under attack, but the vast majority are malicious and completely unaware of the situation.

There are procedures and the statutes are clear in the sense that the rules cannot be changed mid-competition. Things also get complicated when other factors come into play, such as human rights and ethical codes.

Unfortunately, this was not addressed at the time and it is all a result of the poor management that our sport has had at the Olympic level for the past two decades. We pray to God that nothing regrettable happens in the remaining fights.

It is urgent that the affiliation with the IOC of a new international federation responsible for boxing is made official. There is one called World Boxing (WB), and more countries are needed to join in order to be recognized by the IOC. WB is a reality and it is the only option to save boxing and its permanent presence at the Olympic Games, since it is from today from Los Angeles 2028.

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