Breakaway boxing president backs IOC decision on gender issues at Paris Olympics
VILLEPINT, France: The head of the governing body hoping to host the next Olympic boxing tournament has said he supports the IOC's policy on participation in the Paris Olympics and urged those without a deep understanding of gender issues to leave those decisions to medical professionals and scientists. .
World Boxing President Boris Van Der Forst also told The Associated Press on Thursday that his organization will always put athlete safety first when developing its own health and gender policies, while acknowledging that combat sports sometimes require additional measures to protection of all athletes.
Van Der Vorst still strongly disagrees with critics of the IOC's handling of the Olympic tournament, particularly the eligibility of female boxers Iman Khelief of Algeria and Lin Yu Ting of Taiwan.
“I think it's very important that the people who have the right to participate here respect them,” Van Der Vorst said. “I think it's a very sad situation for all the boxers, everyone involved.”
The now-exiled International Boxing Association, which World Boxing is hoping to replace, claimed both fighters failed gender-eligibility tests at the 2023 world championships after both had competed in amateur boxing for many years.
Heliffe won her first match in Paris on Thursday when her opponent Angelo Carini of Italy went down after just 46 seconds. Although Carini said she was not making a political statement about Khelif, Carini's tearful withdrawal from the fight became a global sensation on social media and in the Western culture wars.
“What happened today shouldn't happen like this,” Van Der Vorst told the AP. “The pressure that's there from social media, from the press, from everyone else, it's not very helpful and it's getting into everybody's head.”
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 disqualified Helif from the world championships because of what it said was elevated testosterone levels, and stripped Lin of her bronze medal after it claimed she failed unspecified fitness requirements in a biochemical test.
Van Der Vorst World Boxing is an alliance of several dozen countries that broke away from the IBA after an internal power struggle failed to oust Russian President Umar Kremlin. The IOC Task Force has hosted the last two Olympic boxing tournaments.
If World Boxing is approved to become the governing body of Olympic sport, it will be responsible for hosting the major tournaments throughout the Olympic cycle. If World Boxing does not succeed, boxing will likely be removed from the Olympic program.
Van Der Forst said it was “too early” to know World Boxing's exact policy on gender identity, given the unique physical demands and dangers of boxing.
“First and foremost, safety comes first,” Van Der Vorst said. “But I think in combat sports there might be other reasons for how you go about dealing with those situations.”
The IOC used the 2016 rules to determine the gender of boxers, while several governing bodies of Olympic sports have updated their gender rules in the past three years, including World Aquatics, the World Athletics Union and the International Cycling Union. Athletics' governing body also tightened rules on gender-differentiated athletes last year.
“We will instruct our medical committee as soon as possible after these Games to develop a policy and it is already being implemented,” Van Der Forst said. “But they have to finalize their policies, and the overall issue is very complex. You need to pass good tests, not only gender, but also medical. More importantly, I don't think it's up to you and me. It depends on the (professional) people involved in the (testing).”
Van der Vorst and other members of his organization are in Paris as observers — and, occasionally, recruiters — for additional countries to join the only governing body with a chance of keeping boxing on the Olympic program when the IOC decides the sport's fate in early 2025. . World Boxing currently has 37 members.
World Boxing is also exploring arrangements for major tournaments it hopes to host, including the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, and the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Both Taiwan and Algeria are still members of the IBA, but Lin competed in the World Boxing Invitational in Pueblo, Colorado last spring. She lost her opening match to Brazilian Olympian Jussien Romeu.
Van Der Vorst left the eventful day frustrated by the wild conclusions and speculation on social media regarding both fighters.
“I haven't seen any test that proves that (boxers) are transgender,” Van Der Vorst said. “That's why the boxers who compete here are not treated very respectfully… to talk about them in such words. That's the point I'm trying to make. If there is evidence, it is a different situation. But I haven't seen anything to support that.”
