Courtesy: Google
Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif has said that she is not going anywhere and will fight in court against the legal action launched by the International Boxing Association (IBA) on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for allowing her to participate in last summer's Paris Olympics. On Monday, the IBA had said that the association has filed a complaint with the Swiss Attorney General, citing safety issues around gender eligibility. Khelif, who competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and won a World Championship silver medal, has long believed she is eligible for the women's tournament.
However, Imane has hit back at the association by stating, "I am not going anywhere. I will fight in the ring, I will fight in courts, I will fight in the public eye until the truth is undeniable.” The 25-year-old athlete was under severe criticism after winning the gold medal in female boxing category after it was found that there is a presence of male chromosomes in her body. The tests were done by the Russian-led IBA, which was later stripped of world governing body status by the IOC due to integrity and governance concerns.
Silence is no longer an option: Imane Kelif on latest IBA-IOC row
The 25-year-old Algerian won women's welterweight gold in Paris at the Olympics, after being disqualified from the World Championships for allegedly passing gender eligibility tests. At the time, the IBA stated that Khelif "failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women's competition". However, the IOC questioned the authenticity of the IBA's testing, claiming they could not be trusted.
In a statement on social media, Khelif said, "For two years, I have taken the high road while my name and image have been used, unauthorized, to further personal and political agendas through the spreading and dissemination of baseless lies and misinformation. But silence is no longer an option."
The International Olympic Committee was in charge of conducting the boxing tournament at the Paris Olympics. The IOC authorized Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, both of whom had been banned by the IBA, to compete in the Olympics. The pair's gold medal wins in boxing category drew many attention and was condemned by sports experts and Olympic fans.
The IBA seems to be in no mood to back from the official complaint, especially after US President Donald Trump signed the executive orders to ban the inclusion of biological males in female sports.
