London, Jan 22, (PA Media/dpa/GNA) – New United States President Donald Trump’s stance on the Olympic women’s boxing row, has drawn praise from one of the sport’s international federations.
Trump promised in campaign rallies prior to the election in November, to “keep men out of women’s sports” and described the inclusion of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting in the women’s boxing tournament at Paris 2024 as “crazy” and “demeaning to women”.
Both fighters were allowed to compete in the Games, despite the International Boxing Association (IBA) saying they had been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships for failing gender eligibility criteria. They each went on to win gold in Paris.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) set the criteria for competing at the Paris Games, having withdrawn recognition for the IBA in 2023 over past governance issues.
World Boxing has been set up as an alternative international federation to the IBA, but itself is not yet recognised by the IOC. A chaotic news conference held by the IBA in Paris last summer on why Khelif and Lin had been disqualified from the World Championships, prompted more questions than answers.
Khelif is taking legal action over reports in the French media last year, that said she had XY (chromosomes) and insists she was born a woman, lived as a woman and competed as a woman.
IBA president Umar Kremlev and chief executive Chris Roberts, sent an open letter to Trump on Wednesday, congratulating him on being sworn in as president earlier this week.
“We would also like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude for your strong and principled stance regarding the inadmissibility in the participation of ineligible athletes in women’s boxing competition, which you expressed during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris,” Kremlev and Roberts wrote.
“Your commitment to ensuring fair competition and protecting the integrity of women’s sports is commendable, and resonates deeply within the sports community. It is vital that all athletes compete on a level playing field, and your stance in this matter is a significant step towards achieving that goal.”
They added their hope that the IOC would “benefit from renewed leadership” after its members elect a new president in March and a “willingness to adopt regulations that ensure equal opportunity for all athletes while respecting the historically understood categories of gender in sports”.
“We believe that it is of paramount importance for the IOC and other international governing bodies to reconsider and amend their regulations, in order to avoid similar incidents of dispute and inequity in the future.”
Sebastian Coe, one of the presidential candidates, has promised to introduce a “clear-cut” policy to protect female sport if he is elected.
“If you don’t have clear policies, you end up with where you got to in Paris,” he said last month.
The World Athletics president had previously admitted feeling “uncomfortable” watching the Olympic boxing tournament in Paris.
GNA