Imane Khelif Appeals World Boxing Decision on Sex Tests
Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif has filed an appeal against World Boxing’s decision preventing her from participating in future events unless she undergoes genetic sex testing.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reported this Monday on the presentation of the appeal by the Algerian boxer, made last month.
Khelif aspired to compete in the world boxing championship, which starts on Thursday. However, the CAS communicated that it dismissed the request to suspend the decision of World Boxing until the case is resolved.
Khelif won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics last year, amid international scrutiny over her and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting’s eligibility, also a gold medalist. The previous governing body of Olympic boxing, the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association (IBA), disqualified both boxers from their 2023 world championships, alleging that they had not passed unspecified eligibility tests.
The IBA was disqualified due to years of irregularities and controversies. The IOC managed the last two Olympic boxing tournaments instead, applying the sex eligibility rules used in previous Olympic Games. Under those standards, Khelif and Lin were eligible to compete.
World Boxing has been provisionally approved as a boxing organizer at the Los Angeles 2028 Games and has faced pressure from boxers and their federations to establish sex eligibility standards.
In May, the governing body announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes, specifically mentioning Khelif when announcing the policy, something for which it later apologized.
Khelif plans to defend his welterweight gold medal at the Los Angeles Games. The new IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, has launched a task force to analyze gender eligibility issues.
