Now that World Boxing requires gender tests for participation in tournaments, Olympic champion Imane Khelif will not take part in the “Eindhoven Box Cup”.
Because World Boxing introduced gender tests for the first time a few days ago, Olympic champion Imane Khelif will be missing the “Eindhoven Box Cup” (June 5-10) in the Netherlands. These mandatory tests are “part of a new guideline on gender, age and weight”, the World Boxing Association announced.
At the center of the gender debate
At the Olympic Games, Khelif was at the center of a fierce gender debate. The Algerian boxer dominated her weight class in Paris and won gold with ease. However, doubts about her gender came up during the tournament, leading to heated discussions about Khelif.
Khelif and Lin Yuting from Taiwan were excluded from the 2023 World Championships of the suspended IBA association because they allegedly failed a testosterone test. However, the two were allowed to compete at the 2024 Games in Paris because the IOC only considered the gender in their passports to be decisive.
World Boxing (WB) had recently stated that Khelif would not be allowed to participate in any WB event until she had undergone a genetic gender test in accordance with the federation’s rules and testing procedures. The planned PCR test is a laboratory procedure to determine the presence of specific genetic material, in this case the SRY gene. This indicates the presence of the Y chromosome, which serves as an indicator of biological sex.
“Ensuring health”
The national federations are responsible for gender testing. They must confirm the gender of their athletes aged 18 and over when they register for WB competitions by presenting a certificate of chromosomal sex. “This decision is solely to ensure the health and safety of all participants in competitions,” explained World Boxing.
Khelif’s absence from the “Eindhoven Box Cup” had provoked fierce criticism from the organizers on Thursday. “The decision to exclude Imane is not ours. We regret it,” Dirk Renders, media director of the tournament, told the AP news agency. And Eindhoven’s mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem wrote to the Dutch Boxing Federation and World Boxing: “As far as we are concerned, all athletes are welcome in Eindhoven. Excluding athletes on the basis of controversial gender tests does not fit in with this.”
World Boxing regrets action
The WB has now issued an official statement on the incident and regrets its actions. “On Friday, May 30, 2025, World Boxing issued a statement regarding its plans to introduce mandatory gender testing to determine the eligibility of athletes to participate in its competitions,” it reads. “As part of this statement, WB named a specific individual (Imane Khelif; editor’s note) by name.” The World Boxing Association admitted that it “should not have named this person”. According to the press release, WB President Boris van der Vorst wrote to the President of the Algerian Boxing Federation to apologize. When the new WB guidelines were announced, better care should have been taken to protect Imane Khelif’s privacy.
Text: Frank Schwantes