Questions and answers: The Olympic women’s boxing gender controversy (2025)

Forty-six seconds of a boxing match was all the world needed to sidetrack the 2024 Olympics into a heated controversy about the gender of two women in the field: Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan.

That bout, which ended when Angela Carini of Italy quit against Khelif,​​ spawned intense interest in numerous questions, some of which have clear answers and some of which don’t. The subjects include questions about the women themselves, philosophical queries about how sports approach gender and practical questions about how boxing tournaments and the Olympics are run.

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Here’s what we know and a large caveat: Some elements of the situation are unclear or unknowable.

Who is Imane Khelif?

Khelif, 25, is competing at the Paris Games in the 66-kilogram (145-pound) division and has clinched at least a bronze medal. She finished in fifth place in the 60-kilogram (132-pound) division at the Tokyo Games.

She is 39-9, including one professional bout. She has notable past losses in the 2021 Olympic quarterfinals and in the 2022 world championship finals. Khelif won silver at the 2022 world championships and gold medals at the 2022 African championships, 2022 Mediterranean Games and 2023 Arab Games.

Questions and answers: The Olympic women’s boxing gender controversy (1)

Imane Khelif prior to her match against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori on Saturday. (Photo: Mohd Rasfan / AFP via Getty Images)

How do the Olympics classify Khelif’s gender?

International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials have said the Games primarily rely on passports along with other official national documentation and medical clearances to distinguish men’s and women’s divisions in boxing and many other sports. Some sports have additional requirements.

Khelif was assigned female on her birth certificate and has always been identified on her legal documents as a woman, according to the IOC. She has lived her entire life as a woman and is listed as a woman on her passport, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Friday.

“My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl,” her father, Omar Khelif, said in a video published Saturday by Sky News. “She’s a strong girl. I raised her to be hardworking and brave.”

Algeria President Abdelmadjid Tebboune applauded Khelif on Friday with a social media post, saying Khelif has “honored Algeria, Algerian women and Algerian boxing” before saying the nation will stand by her “no matter what your results are.”

Algerian law does not allow people to change their gender on official documents or otherwise, according to Equaldex, a website that tracks LGBTQ laws by country for travelers.

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“This is not a transgender case,” Adams said, later adding: “Scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman.”

Who is Lin Yu-ting?

Lin, 25, is in the 57-kilogram (126-pound) division. She beat Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria in the quarterfinals Sunday to clinch at least a bronze medal.

Lin also competed in Tokyo, finishing in ninth place in the 57-kilogram (126-pound) division. She is a two-time gold medalist at the Asian championships, a two-time gold medalist at world championships and won a gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games.

How do the Olympics classify Lin’s gender?

Like with Khelif, Olympic officials have repeatedly said Lin has met every benchmark to fight in a women’s division.

Lin was registered as female on her birth certificate, according to Cho Kuan-ting, a city council member in New Taipei who spoke with the Taipei Times.

“Lin is registered as a female on her birth certificate. The test result from last year was not even about chromosomes,” Cho said. “It took her years of hard work to get to where she is today … She has proven herself to be the pride of Taiwan.”

Questions and answers: The Olympic women’s boxing gender controversy (2)

Lin Yu-ting has her hand raised after defeating Sitora Turdibekova on Friday. (Photo: Richard Pelham / Getty Images)

So what is the controversy?

Khelif and Lin are competing after they were disqualified from the 2023 women’s boxing world championships. At those championships, they failed what the International Boxing Association (IBA) characterized as gender eligibility tests.

But written details of the tests have not been officially released and the IBA’s administration of the championships has been heavily criticized. This week, the association issued a statement that described the tests using only vague terms.

“The athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential,” the statement said. “This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.”

It promised more clarity at a news conference ahead of the boxing semifinals but then officials told reporters that they could not release more details about the tests.

GO DEEPERIBA digs in on Olympic boxing controversy in news conference

How did things escalate?

Attention turned quickly to Khelif and Lin when they were cleared to compete in Paris.

The IOC is overseeing boxing at the 2024 Games after the IBA was stopped from running the Olympic tournaments in 2019. There were numerous disputes, including allegations of unfair judging and a lack of financial transparency by the IBA. In April, the IBA tried to force the IOC to let it run Olympic boxing, but lost its challenge with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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The administrative spat led to the IBA and the IOC throwing barbs at each other when they had differences in how they handled the eligibility of the boxers.

Then things really boiled over when Khelif fought Carini. Carini conceded 46 seconds into the bout after squarely taking a hard punch, officially abandoning the fight. It’s unusual – though not unprecedented – for boxers to give up in that way. It’s akin to throwing in the towel, as some corners do to concede fights.

Carini says she is sad about the controversy that has emerged. Immediately after the bout, she said she couldn’t continue given the intense pain she endured from Khelif’s punches.

Questions and answers: The Olympic women’s boxing gender controversy (4)

Imane Khelif pats Angela Carini on the back after Carini abandoned their match on Thursday. (Photo: Richard Pelham / Getty Images)

How has Khelif reacted?

Khelif, in an interview with SNTV, a video partner of The Associated Press, urged the world to refrain from bullying athletes and thanked those who have stood by her.

Khelif reiterated that her Olympic focus remains on winning gold: “God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal and that would be the best response.”

“Why now? Why is this happening now? I don’t care,” Khelif told SNTV and the AP. “What’s important is that I came here with a focus on my goal, which is the Olympics.”

Why is there confusion about the gender tests?

This is where things get murky.

After the world championship disqualifications in 2023, IBA president Umar Kremlev told the Russian state-owned news agency Tass that Khelif and Lin had X and Y chromosomes. Based on DNA tests, he said, “it was proven that they have XY chromosomes.”

According to the National Institutes of Health: “The Y chromosome is most commonly associated with male individuals, but the Y chromosome does not singularly define a person’s sex.”

Kremlev accused the boxers of trying to deceive their competition by pretending to be women.

According to the National Health Service in England, the presence of X and Y chromosomes in women can only be determined with chromosomal testing, usually given in the form of an ultrasound or a blood test.

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It is not known if Khelif or Lin underwent such testing because the IBA has not shared more details about the tests.

It promised those details on Monday but at a news conference said it could not release more details. Kremlev said the tests showed elevated testosterone in the boxers, which contradicted his organization’s written statement that “the athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination.

The IOC has also raised objections to how the tests were carried out and administered, in part because Khelif and Lin were determined to be ineligible only after they had clinched world championship medals.

Why do details about biology matter?

This cuts to the heart of so many of the most complex questions about gender and sport. These are subjects that illuminate disagreements, filled with details that aren’t always simple to find or explain.

Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, has a job that requires him to regularly talk about these issues publicly. Yet even he had an example of the danger of imprecision on Saturday.

Initially, he said during a news conference that Khelif and Lin were not examples of athletes with differences of sex development, or DSD, a broad term used for people who are born with characteristics that do not strictly fit into long-held associations with descriptions of males and females. Minutes later, the IOC sent a correction and said Bach had misspoken. He meant to say instead that the athletes were not transgender, as he had in earlier remarks, the IOC said.

So much of the online discourse around the boxers has included false assumptions about their genders, prompting comparisons with a wide range of sports that have a wide range of rules set by their federations.

Bach said that the IOC would not take part in what he called a “politically motivated, sometimes politically motivated, culture war.”

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And he repeated the IOC’s calls for national boxing organizations to unite under a new umbrella that is not the IBA to agree on better rules.

What happened during the Algeria-Italy fight?

Less than you might think.

Khelif and Carini touched gloves as the fight started. They opened with pawing jabs to zero in their range. Khelif took control of the center of the ring and landed a short uppercut. Carini actively counterpunched but put her left hand up 36 seconds in to get her headgear readjusted.

After the brief pause, Carini ate a stiff right straight from Khelif. She put her left hand in the air again to concede.

Khelif’s punch wasn’t delivered particularly forcefully. But it landed flush as Carini had opened up her stance and lifted her chin while throwing a weak hook.

Questions and answers: The Olympic women’s boxing gender controversy (5)

Imane Khelif walks out of the ring after defeating Angela Carini. (Photo: Mohd Rasfan / AFP via Getty Images)

Will Khelif and Lin be disqualified from the Olympics?

Probably not.

The IOC released a statement Thursday reiterating that every athlete in the boxing tournament complied with the Games’ eligibility and entry regulations. On Friday, Adams said the 2023 disqualifications rendered Khelif and Lin victims “of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA.”

Those positions make it highly unlikely that Khelif and Lin would be disqualified on the basis of gender in the middle of their Olympic tournaments.

On the contrary, Khelif clinched at least a bronze on Saturday with a win against Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary. There was some posturing but it played out mostly like a normal fight, with Khelif taking a unanimous decision.

GO DEEPERKhelif clinches Olympic boxing medal amid media frenzy

“Eligibility rules should not be changed during an ongoing competition and any change must follow appropriate processes and should be based on scientific evidence,” Adams said.

Who is Umar Kremlev and why is the IBA at odds with the IOC?

Kremlev has overseen the IBA since 2020 and has some ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In May, a report from a Chinese state-run television network said Kremlev was part of a Russian delegation chosen by Putin to promote sports in China.

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The IBA has also had financial backing from the Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, which it announced in 2021 as a sponsorship that would help keep it from insolvency.

And during these Games, the IBA has been defending its choices and needling the IOC.

On Friday, Kremlev said the IBA would award Carini prize money as if she were an Olympic champion. “I couldn’t look at her tears,” Kremlev said in a statement. “I do not understand why they kill women’s boxing. Only eligible athletes should compete in the ring for the sake of safety.”

The IBA has been the governing body for most of the sport’s international competitions, though in the fractured world of boxing that doesn’t cover headline professional bouts like the ones fans would normally buy on pay-per-view. Those are generally put on by individual promotional companies.

The IBA was the first international federation to lose its IOC association.

Along with allegations of manipulating bouts at the 2016 Olympics, the IBA promised to hand out more than $3 million in prize money to fighters and teams in Paris in 2024. That led the IOC to issue an ultimatum: Countries who stayed loyal to the IBA could be barred from competing in boxing at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“This total lack of financial transparency was exactly one of the reasons why the IOC withdrew its recognition of the IBA,” the IOC said in May.

How did the 2023 world championship play out?

On March 23, 2023, Khelif rolled past Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand to qualify for the world championship finals. But hours before the final the next day, Khelif was disqualified (Suwannapheng fought instead and lost).

​​”There are some countries that did not want Algeria to win a gold medal,” Khelif told Algerian Ennahar TV after the tournament. “This is a conspiracy and a big conspiracy, and we will not be silent about it.”

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Earlier in the same tournament, she had defeated the Russian boxer Azalia Amineva.

Also on March 23, Lin fell to Kazakh boxer Karina Ibragimova in the semifinals and clinched a bronze medal. Lin was stripped of that medal the next day.

On Friday, the IOC said Khelif and Lin were not given any due process.

What’s left for Khelif and Lin at the Paris Games?

Khelif’s semifinal on Tuesday is actually a rematch with Suwannapheng of their world championship semifinal. The finals for their division are scheduled for Friday.

Lin will next face Turkey’s Esra Yildiz in the semifinals on Wednesday. The final is Saturday.

Required reading

  • How Olympic boxer Imane Khelif’s performance embroiled arguments about gender in sport
  • Olympic boxer Angela Carini apologizes to Imane Khelif, is ‘sad’ about gender controversy
  • Imane Khelif clinches an Olympic boxing medal amid media frenzy

(Photo: Mohd Rasfan / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Questions and answers: The Olympic women’s boxing gender controversy (2025)

FAQs

What is the controversy about women's boxing? ›

Women's boxing is at the center of the latest Olympics controversy as critics take issue with the participation of two athletes — Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan — who have failed gender eligibility tests in the past.

Is the Olympic boxer male or female? ›

Mark Adams, Spokesperson, International Olympic Committee:

The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport. This is not a transgender case.

Who was the first female boxer to win an Olympic medal? ›

About Nicola

Nicola Adams was one of the stars of London 2012 when she lit up the ring to become the first woman to win an Olympic boxing gold medal.

When did women's boxing become a sport? ›

Women's boxing became an official Olympic sport at the London 2012 Games.

What happened at the Olympics controversy? ›

Chiles, the U.S. Olympics gymnast, has been embroiled in a controversy over the bronze medal from the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics, where there has been an administrative tug-of-war over whether the medal belongs to her or to Romanian gymnast Ana-Maria Bărbosu.

Why do female boxers wear headgear in the Olympics? ›

The decision was made after South Korean Fighter Kim Duk-Koo died after a world championship bout in 1982. The IOC and IOA subsequently mandated that fighters at the Olympics, who are amateurs, must wear head protection for their own safety.

Who is the only woman boxer to become the world? ›

Mary Kom
BornMangte Chungneijang Kom 24 November 1982 Kagathei, Churachandpur, Manipur, India
SpouseKarong Onkholer Koms
AwardsPadma Vibhushan (2020) Padma Bhushan (2013) Padma Shri (2006)
Boxing career
17 more rows

What is the difference between boxing and Olympic boxing? ›

The major point of difference comes with the number of judges, with Olympic bouts scored by five officials at ringside. Championship bouts and other major contests in pro boxing have three judges, while fights staged over shorter distances can have the referee as the sole scorer.

Who is the only female boxer to have won a medal in each of the first seven world championships? ›

Mary Kom is winner of World Boxing Championship, Six times. She is the only female boxer to won a medal in each one of the first seven World Championships. Mary Kom was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, in 2020.

Who is the famous female boxer? ›

Laila Ali is often regarded as one of the greatest female boxers in history.

Who is the only woman to win 6 gold medals in world boxing? ›

Mary Kom is the only Indian woman to win six gold medals in world boxing championships.

Who was the first woman boxer in the world? ›

In 1876, the first women's boxing match was held in the United States. In this match Nell Saunders defeated Rose Harland. Her prize was a silver butter dish.

How many rounds is women's Olympic boxing? ›

Each bout is disputed over three rounds of three minutes each for men, and four rounds of two minutes each for women. At the end of every round, each of the judges determine a winner based on the judging criteria and award the victor 10 points for the round.

When did boxing stop being an Olympic sport? ›

Boxing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since its introduction to the program at the 1904 Summer Olympics, except for the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, because Swedish law banned the sport at the time. The 2008 Summer Olympics were the final games with boxing as a male only event.

How much do female boxers make? ›

Taylor is likely to haul in between one and three million USD after Saturday's fight. Cameron — who typically earns north of $500,000 per bout — should count her earnings to be in the range of 800 thousand USD, but that could balloon up to seven-figures depending on the event's reception.

What is the difference between men's and women's boxing? ›

The difference in rounds

Top-level women's bouts, including championship fights, are contested over 10 rounds. Meanwhile, men's eliminators and championship fights go 12 rounds. The WBC is the only sanctioning body that heavily enforces this rule in women's boxing.

Why are people against boxing? ›

Boxing is a dangerous sport. Unlike most other sports, its basic intent is to produce bodily harm in the opponent. Boxing can result in death and produces an alarming incidence of chronic brain injury. For this reason, the World Medical Association recommends that boxing be banned.

Why was boxing banned in China? ›

Mao Zedong was driving the country further into isolation. Fan Hong, a scholar who specializes in China's athletic history, commented, "People believed that boxing was very brutal, very ruthless, and those were said to be the characteristics of capitalism. So it was banned."

Can a woman beat a man in boxing? ›

Whether you're male or female you don't need an extraordinary amount of strength or power to strike and defeat your opponent, instead, you need proper technique, agility, and speed. A female fighter who dominates proper technique remains calm and in control of herself, can overpower a larger and stronger male.

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