IBA letter to IOC, June 2023: Boxer's 'DNA was that of a male consisting of XY chromosomes'
PARIS – The athlete who has ignited a worldwide controversy in Olympic women’s boxing was disqualified from the 2023 International Boxing Assn. world championships in New Delhi after two tests, one in India amid that tournament and a prior test in Turkey in May 2022, “concluded the boxer’s DNA was that of a male consisting of XY chromosomes,” according to correspondence the IBA sent in June 2023 – more than a year ago – to the International Olympic Committee.
The June 5, 2023, letter, spotlighting Algeria’s Imane Khelif, reads, “This situation epitomizes the importance of protecting safe sport, and the integrity of sport in which the Olympic Movement is jointly committed to.”
3 Wire Sports has seen the letter and the tests.The documents shed new light on the controversy enveloping Khelif and, as well, Yu Ting Lin of Chinese Taipei that has erupted at these Paris 2024 Games.
The controversy – which has seen the likes of Donald Trump, J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and untold numbers more on social media – spotlights one of the most challenging issues confronting international sports:
Whose rights matter more?
The individual athlete or the collective?
The challenge is perhaps most acute involving athletes with what is called DSD, individuals with differences of sex development.
DSD is an umbrella term for a group of conditions where someone’s chromosomes, or hormones, don’t fit the usual expectations of being male or female.
An IBA technical document, effective May 13, 2023, says this: “‘Women/Female/Girl’ means an individual with chromosome XX. For this purpose, the Boxers can be submitted to a random and/or targeted gender test to confirm the above, which will serve for the gender eligibility criteria for the IBA Competitions.”The lab results for each athlete depict the XY chromosomes photographically.
The IOC asserts both athletes were DQ’d without due process.
The IBA minutes do say, as the IOC has said, that the decision to disqualify was made by the IBA secretary general at the time and that the board was asked to ratify that move.
The IBA said in a statement that Lin did not appeal the IBA disqualification to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, “thus rendering the decision legally binding.”
Khelif, the IBA said, initially lodged an appeal with CAS but dropped the case, “also making the IBA decision legally binding.”In confidence, the IBA can share that Imane Khelif was disqualified from the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2023 in New Delhi for breaching the IBA Technical and Competition Rules and was not medically eligible to participate in the event as a female boxer.”
To reiterate, the letter refers solely to Khelif. It directs the IOC to the attached lab reports.
It also expressly refers the IOC to that IBA “definition” of “women/female/girl” – defined as someone with XX chromosomes.
https://www.3wiresports.com/articles/2024/8/3/0d4ucn50bmvbndhhqjohaneccoqueq It's quite simple those with XX produce eggs those with XY produce sperm.