Two “Male” Boxers Will Now Fight for Gold in Women’s Finals

The two boxers at the centre of the gender controversy at Paris 2024 – Imane Khelif (Algeria) and Lin Yu‑ting (Taiwan) – have both reached the finals of their respective weight categories.

Khelif won the 66kg semi-final on Tuesday and Lin won the 57kg semi-final on Wednesday. The Taiwan boxer faced a second ‘XX’ gender protest in the ring after winning her bout against Esra Yildiz Kahraman (Turkey).

It was the second time in succession that Lin faced the gesture – referencing female chromosomes – from a losing opponent.

Kahraman had attacked aggressively during the bout, but could not match her opponent’s reach or composure. After losing to Lin, Kahraman gestured to the crowd and crossed her fingers, just as Svetlana Staneva (Bulgaria) had done after losing to Lin in the quarter-final.

The most toxic row in boxing’s Olympic history now rumbles on until at least Saturday when Lin faces Julia Szeremeta (Poland) in her 57kg final. Khelif has her 66kg final against Yang Liu (China) on Friday.

The Olympics now faces a situation where two boxers who are accused of being male could win golds in women’s boxing.

The IOC said it made its eligibility decisions on boxers based on the gender-related rules that applied at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.

Several sports have updated their gender rules over the past three years, including World Aquatics, World Athletics and the International Cycling Union. The track body also tightened its rules on athletes with differences in sex development in 2023.

Despite this, the IOC has doubled down on its decision, with IOC President Thomas Bach saying: “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who were raised as women, who have passport as women, who have competed for many years as women. This is the clear definition of a woman.”

But testing by the International Boxing Association (IBA) last year showed that Khelif and Lin have male XY chromosomes in their DNA, though neither are transgender. Male chromosomes are designated by an X and a Y, while females have two X’s.

Celebrities such as JK Rowling, British Olympian swimmer Sharron Davies and double Olympic gold medal-winning ex-boxer Nicola Adams have spoken out against the two boxers’ involvement in women’s sport.