Villepinte, France: The head of the governing body hoping to stage the next Olympic boxing tournament said he would back the IOC's eligibility policy for the Paris Olympics and urged those without a deep understanding of gender issues to leave those decisions to medical professionals and scientists. .
World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst also told The Associated Press on Thursday that his organization will always prioritize the safety of athletes in developing its own policies on health and gender, while acknowledging that combat sports sometimes require additional considerations to protect all athletes.
Van der Vorst still strongly disagrees with critics of the IOC's handling of the Olympic competition, particularly the eligibility of female boxers Imane Khelief of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan.
“I think it's very important that when people are qualified to compete here, we have to respect them,” Van der Vorst said. “I think it's a very sad situation for all the boxers, everyone involved here.”
The now-defunct International Boxing Federation, which World Boxing hopes to replace, claimed both fighters failed gender eligibility tests at the 2023 world championships after competing in amateur boxing for several years.
Khalif won her first Paris bout on Thursday when she stopped her opponent Angela Carini of Italy in just 46 seconds. Although Karini said she was not making a political statement about Khalif, Karini's tearful exit from the bout became a global sensation on social media and in the Western culture wars.
“What happened today, it shouldn't have happened,” van der Vorst told the AP. “There's pressure from social media, from the press, from everybody else, it's not very helpful, and it's getting to everybody's head.”
The criticism of the two boxers is based in part on the policies and decisions of the IBA, which has been out of the Olympic movement since 2019 after years of concerns about its leadership, integrity and financial transparency by the IOC.
The IBA disqualified Khalif from its world championships because it had elevated testosterone levels, and it stripped Lin of the bronze medal because it claimed he failed to meet unspecified eligibility requirements in 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 its Russian president, Omar Kremlev. The IOC task force has conducted the past two Olympic boxing events.
If World Boxing receives approval to become the sport's Olympic governing body, it will be in charge of major tournaments during the Olympic cycle. If World Boxing does not succeed, boxing is likely to be dropped from the Olympic programme.
Van der Vorst said it was “too early” to know the exact policies of world boxing on gender identity, given the unique physical demands and dangers of boxing.
“First of all, safety above all else,” van der Vorst said. “But I think with a fighting game, there might be some other reasons for how you're going to deal with those kinds of situations.”
The IOC used rules from 2016 to determine the gender eligibility of boxers, 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. The governing body for track and field last year also tightened rules on athletes with differences in gender development.
“We will appoint our medical committee as soon as possible to formulate a policy after these games, and they are already in progress,” van der Vorst said. “But they have to finalize their policy, and the general 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 is up to the (professional) people involved in (testing).”
Van der Vorst and other members of his organization are in Paris as observers — and sometimes, recruits from more 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 as early as 2025. World Boxing currently has 37 members.
World Boxing is studying the mechanics for major tournaments, including the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, and the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Both Taiwan and Algeria are still IBA members, but Lin competed in the World Boxing Invitational in Pueblo, Colorado last spring. She lost her opening bout to Brazilian Olympian Jusileen Romeu.
Van der Vorst left the eventful day disappointed with the wild conclusion and the speculation swirling on social media about both fighters.
“I haven't seen a single test that proves (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 these terms. That's what I'm trying to stress. When there's proof, yes, that's a different situation. Didn't see it.”
