Breakaway boxing president backs IOC's handling of gender issues at Paris Olympics
VILLEPINTE, France: The president of the governing body hoping to hold the next Olympic boxing games said he supports the IOC's policy on the Paris Olympics, urging those who do not have a deep understanding of the issue gender to leave that decision to medical professionals and scientists. .
The president of World Boxing Boris Van Der Vorst also told The Associated Press on Thursday that his organization will always put the safety of athletes in the development of its own policies on health and gender. while recognizing that combat sports sometimes require extra attention to protect all athletes.
Van Der Vorst remains strongly at odds with critics of the IOC's handling of the Olympic competition, particularly the legitimacy of women's boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan.
“I think it's very important that when people deserve to compete here, we have to respect them,” said Van Der Vorst. “I think it's a very sad situation for all the boxers, everyone involved.”
The now-defunct International Boxing Association, which World Boxing is hoping to replace, said both men and women had failed qualification tests at the world championships. in the year 2023 these two fighters have been competing in a romantic boxing match for years.
Khelif won her first match in Paris on Thursday when her opponent Angela Carini of Italy was eliminated after just 46 seconds. Although Carini said she was not making a political statement about Khelif, Carini's tearful abandonment of the Khelif became a global sensation on social media and in the Western culture wars war.
“What happened today should not have happened like this,” Van Der Vorst told the AP. “The pressure from social media, from the press, from everyone, it's not very helpful, and it gets into everyone'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 IOC concerns. about its leadership, integrity and financial transparency.
The IBA stripped Khelif of the world championships for allegedly high testosterone, and stripped Lin of her bronze medal because she failed to meet unspecified conditions in the biochemical tests.
Van Der Vorst's World Boxing is an alliance of several dozen countries that broke away from the IBA after a failed civil war to overthrow the Russian president, Umar Kremlev. The IOC has staged the last two Olympic boxing events.
If World Boxing is approved to become the governing body of the Olympic sport, it will be in charge of the major competitions during the Olympic cycle. If the world championships fail, it is likely that boxing will be removed from the Olympic program.
Van Der Vorst said it was “too early” to know World Boxing's gender policy, given the unique physical demands and dangers of boxing.
“First of all, safety above all else,” said Van Der Vorst. “But I think in combat sports, there's probably a different reason you deal with those situations.”
The IOC has been using rules since 2016 to determine the gender eligibility of boxers, while many Olympic sports governing bodies have updated their rules on gender. gender for the past three years, including World Aquatics, World Athletics and the International Cycling Union. The governing body of football last year also strengthened the rules regarding athletes with differences in the development of sexual relations.
“We will appoint the medical committee as soon as possible after these matches to make policy, and they are already moving forward,” said Van Der Vorst. “But they have to finish their politics, and the general problem is very difficult. You need to get a good diagnosis, not only the gender test, but also the medical test. More importantly, I don't think it's up to you and me. It's up to the (professional) people involved in (the testing).”
Van Der Vorst and other members of his organization are in Paris as observers – and, sometimes, recruits of additional countries to join the only governing body that has the ability to keep boxing on the Olympic program when The IOC will decide the end of the sport in early 2025. World Boxing currently has 37 members.
World Boxing is also studying the mechanics of major tournaments it hopes to host, including the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, in 2026 and the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
Both Taiwan and Algeria are still members of the IBA, but Lin competed in the World Boxing Invitational in Pueblo, Colorado, last spring. He lost his opening match to Jucielen Romeu, the Brazilian Olympian.
Van Der Vorst left the day full of disappointments with empty conclusions and social media speculation about the two fighters.
“I haven't seen a single test that proves (the boxers) are transgender,” Van Der Vorst said. “That's why it's disrespectful to the boxers who compete here … to talk about them in those terms. That's what I'm trying to emphasize. When there is evidence, well, it's a different situation. But I haven't seen anything to prove it.
