The president of boxing's separate body backs the IOC's handling of gender issues at the Paris Olympics
VILLEPINTE, France: The head of the governing body hoping to stage the next Olympic boxing tournament has said he supports the IOC's eligibility policies at the Paris Olympics and urged those lacking a deep understanding of gender issues to entrust these determinations to medical professionals and scientists. .
World Boxing president Boris Van Der Vorst also told The Associated Press on Thursday that his organization will always put athlete safety first in developing its own health and gender policies, while acknowledging that combat sports sometimes require additional considerations to protect all athletes.
Van Der Vorst still strongly disagrees with criticism of the IOC's handling of the Olympic tournament, particularly the eligibility of female boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan.
“I think it's very important that when people are eligible to compete here, we have to respect them,” Van Der Vorst said. “I think it's a very sad situation for all the boxers, for everyone involved here.”
The now-defunct International Boxing Association, which World Boxing hoped to replace, claimed both fighters failed gender eligibility tests at its 2023 world championships after both had competed in amateur boxing for many years.
Khelif won her first match in Paris on Thursday when her opponent Angela Carini of Italy bowed out after just 46 seconds. Even though Carini said she wasn't making a political statement about Khelif, Carini's tearful abandonment of the fight became a worldwide sensation on social media and in the Western culture wars.
“What happened today, it shouldn't happen like this,” Van Der Vorst told the AP. “The pressure that's there from social media, from the press, from everybody else, it's not very helpful and it gets into everybody's head.”
Criticism of the two boxers is based in part on the policies and decisions of the IBA, which pulled out of the Olympic movement in 2019 after years of IOC concerns about its leadership, integrity and financial transparency.
The IBA disqualified Khelif from its world championships due to what it said were high testosterone levels and stripped Lin of a bronze medal for claiming she did not meet unspecified eligibility requirements at a biochemical test.
Van Der Vorst's World Boxing is an alliance of several dozen nations that broke away from the IBA after an internal power struggle failed to oust Russian president Umar Kremlev. An IOC task force has run the last two Olympic boxing tournaments.
If World Boxing wins approval to become the sport's Olympic governing body, it will be in charge of the major tournaments during the Olympic cycle. If World Boxing fails, boxing will likely be dropped from the Olympic program.
Van Der Vorst said it was “too soon” to know World Boxing's exact policies on gender identity, given the unique physical demands and dangers of boxing.
“First, safety above all else,” said Van Der Vorst. “But I think with a combat sport, there might be other reasons why you're dealing with those types of situations.”
The IOC has used rules since 2016 to determine boxers' gender eligibility, while several Olympic sports' governing bodies have updated their gender rules in the past three years, including World Aquatics, World Athletics and the International Cycling Union. Also last year, athletics' governing body tightened rules on gender-differentiated athletes.
“We will appoint our medical committee as soon as possible after these Games to make policy, and that is already underway,” Van Der Vorst said. “But they have to finalize their policy and the overall issue is very complicated. You need to have good tests, not just gender tests, but also medical tests. More importantly, I think it's not up to you and me. It depends on the people (professionals) who are involved in (testing).”
Van Der Vorst and other members of his organization are in Paris as observers – and occasionally recruiters of additional nations to join the only governing body with a chance to keep boxing on the Olympic program when the IOC decides the sport's fate at early 2025. World Boxing currently has 37 members.
World Boxing is also studying the mechanics for major tournaments it hopes to stage, including the Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, in 2026 and the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
Both Taiwan and Algeria are still members of the IBA, but Lin competed in a world boxing invitational tournament in Pueblo, Colo., last spring. She lost her opening match to Brazilian Olympian Jucielen Romeu.
Van Der Vorst left the eventful day disappointed by the wild conclusions and speculation thrown around on social media about both fighters.
“We haven't seen any tests that prove (boxers are) transgender,” Van Der Vorst said. “That's why it's not very respectful of the boxers who compete here … to talk about them in those terms. That's what I'm trying to point out. When there is evidence, yes, it is a different situation. But I haven't seen anything to prove that.”
