World Boxing, the new organization slated to run the boxing events at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, announced Friday it had enacted a mandatory sex-testing policy with Algerian gold medalist Imane Khelif slated to return to competition next week at the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands.
Khelif became one of the main storylines of last summer’s Paris Games when the International Boxing Association alleged she had been disqualified from an event in March 2023 because she did not pass a chromosome-based gender verification test.
The International Olympic Committee, which stripped the IBA of its governing body status after a corruption investigation, questioned the credibility of the IBA’s testing process and allowed Khelif to compete in the female category on the basis of being listed as a female on her Algerian passport.
Amid several days of international controversy, the 26-year-old Khelif won the gold medal in the welterweight division and said afterward: “I am a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I have lived as a woman, I compete as a woman. There is no doubt about that.”
Controversy bubbled up again in recent days when Khelif was entered in Eindhoven, prompting World Boxing’s rush to introduce sex testing under “special or emergency circumstances,” even as the organization acknowledged that its “Sex, Age and Weight” policies were still in development.
“In light of plans to introduce this policy and the particular circumstances surrounding some boxers that competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, World Boxing has written to the Algerian Boxing Federation to inform it that Imane Khelif will not be allowed to participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes sex testing,’ according to the release.
Last fall, the French publication Le Correspondant published what it claimed was a leaked 2023 medical report on Khelif showing that she was born with a rare genetic trait called 5-Alpha reductase type 2 deficiency, which is essentially an intersex condition or so-called difference in sexual development that showed in the presence of XY chromosomes, testosterone levels higher than the typical woman and internal testes.
Though some individual sport governing bodies like World Aquatics and World Athletics have developed participation policies on issues like transgender athletes and athletes with DSDs, the IOC stopped mandatory chromosome testing prior to the 2000 Olympics. That 25-year-old policy change was made at the urging of scientists and geneticists who did not endorse the so-called cheek swab method as precise enough to portray a full biological picture, given the vast array of mutations and conditions that could cause chromosomal anomalies without conferring an obvious or problematic competitive advantage.
The IOC cited this history, as well as the IBA’s opaque testing process and lack of due process afforded to Khelif, in explaining why she was allowed to compete in Paris.
Khelif had competed on the international boxing circuit for years before the 2024 Olympics without controversy, including at the Tokyo Games in 2021, where she lost in the quarterfinals.
World Boxing’s announcement Friday said that national federations would be responsible for testing and to confirm the sex of their boxer, and that failure to do so could lead to sanctions against the country and the athlete. The organization also says it reserves the right to do its own testing to confirm certification.
“Where test results for boxers that want to compete in the female category reveal Y chromosome genetic material and a potential DSD, the initial screenings will be referred to independent clinical specialists for genetic screening, hormonal profiles, anatomical examination or other valuation of endocrine profiles by medical specialists.”
Though World Boxing says an appeals process will be available to boxers who fail chromosome testing, it’s unclear whether it will include some type of policy like World Athletics, which allows track and field athletes with DSDs to compete in the female category if their testosterone is lowered below 2.5 nanamoles per liter for at least six months.
