Olympic champion boxer Khelif challenges gender test at CAS

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, at the centre of a row at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has turned to sport’s top court to attempt to overturn the introduction of a gender test, the court said on Monday.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said in a statement that Imane Khelif was challenging the global boxing federation’s decision “that disallows the athlete’s participation in upcoming World Boxing events without a preliminary genetic test”.

Imane Khelif was one of two boxers who sparked a gender eligibility furore at the Paris Games last year. The other was Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting, who has been entered to compete at the world championships that start this week in Liverpool, England.

Both fighters won Olympic gold medals, but  Imane Khelif’s opening bout, when she left her Italian opponent in tears, sparked criticism from a range of commentators including now-US Vice President JD Vance and “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling.

She filed her appeal on August 5, CAS said, seeking to overturn World Boxing’s decision and allow her to enter competitions, including the world championships, “without a test”.

However, CAS said that it had “dismissed a request to suspend the execution of the decision by World Boxing until the case is heard”, meaning that she has almost no chance of competing in Liverpool if she does not take the test.

Both Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin were subjected to attacks on social media, rumours about their biological sex and even disinformation during the Paris Games.

Read More: World Athletics mandates gene test for female category eligibility

The debate about eligibility in women’s sports categories has not just affected boxing but has also sucked in athletics and swimming.

In late May, World Boxing announced that it was introducing mandatory gender testing to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes wanting to take part in its competitions.

The governing body issued an apology the next week for having named Khelif in its statement about the new eligibility rules.

The genetic sex test was used at the Olympics between 1968 and 1996, after which it was abandoned.

In June, new International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry said the body would set up a gender working group and vowed to take a “scientific approach” to the inflammatory issue of eligibility for the female categories.

Khelif last month denied claims made by her former manager that she was putting her career on hold.

“I would like to make it clear to the public that the reports of my retirement from boxing are false,” the 26-year-old wrote on Facebook.

She accused her former manager, Nasser Yesfah, of “betraying (her) trust and (her) country with his false and malicious statements”.

“This person no longer represents me in any way,” she said.