Boxer Helif, who failed gender test, wins gold at Olympics
Algeria’s Iman Khelif defeated Yang Liu of China in the final of the women’s 66kg final
Algerian boxer Iman Khelif, around whom a gender scandal erupted at the Olympics in Paris, won the gold medal in the 66 kg weight category.
She defeated China’s Yang Liu in the final bout.
Helif was one of two athletes disqualified from last year’s International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships. IBA head Umar Kremlev said genetic tests on the suspended female athletes revealed an XY male chromosome set.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has allowed Helif and Lin Yueting of Taiwan to compete in the Paris Games. IOC communications director Mark Adams said on Aug. 4 that Helif and Lin Yueting’s gender tests were not legal. He said there were a host of irregularities in the sampling process, “from the concept itself to the way information about them was disseminated in public.” The IOC also said the two athletes were “victims of an unexpected and discriminatory decision by the IBA.” The IBA has been stripped of its recognition by the IOC and is not involved in the hosting of the Olympic boxing tournament.
Lin Yueting is scheduled to face Poland’s Julia Sheremeta on Aug. 10 in a semifinal bout at the Olympics in the women’s 57kg weight class.
Lin Yueting, 28, is a two-time world champion (2018, 2022), while 25-year-old Iman Khelif was a silver medalist at the 2022 World Championships. Both athletes competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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