After reaching glory on August 9 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by winning the gold medal, Imane Khelif is now in hell after new medical reports where the debate about her eligibility to compete in women’s categories intensified.
This scandal began at the 2024 Olympic Games and after being silenced for some months, it was revived thanks to a test carried out in a laboratory in New Delhi, which was published by the site 3 Wire Sports where “abnormal” findings were found.
What did the test on Imane Khelif show?
It was in the laboratory of Dr. Lal Path, which is accredited by the American College of Pathologists and certified by the International Organization for Standardization based in Switzerland, that Imane Khelif has an XY karyotype (typically male), as well as elevated testosterone levels and 5-alpha reductase deficiency, all of which would confirm her male gender.
Some details are added in the report, such as “a pelvic exploration that did not show the presence of a uterus, but did show gonads in the inguinal canals, a blind vagina and a micropenis in the form of a clitoris”. This contradicts what was mentioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its president Thomas Bach, who disqualified two tests carried out in 2023.
Imane Kheli upset about her privacy and conflict with World Boxing
After leaks and investigations into her medical record by the French media outlet Le Correspondant in order to get to the truth, Khelif expressed her annoyance at such harassment and violation of her privacy, as well as receiving an apology from the president of World Boxing after the organization published its new policy where it would establish mandatory sex testing from next month, which put the Algerian back in the eye of the storm.
As a result of this situation, World Boxing wrote to the Algerian Boxing Federation to acknowledge its mistake. “I am writing personally to offer a formal and sincere apology for this and to acknowledge that your privacy should have been protected,” wrote Boris van der Vorst, president of the organization.
But that’s not all for World Boxing, as they have been authorized to act as boxing organizers at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, so the pressure from boxers and their federations to put order in when it comes to sex eligibility was unleashed, especially by one of the objectives that the unit itself mentioned in its statement: “to ensure the safety of all participants and to provide a level playing field for men and women“.
It will be in the coming weeks or months when the situation becomes clearer, as so far Imane Khelif plans to defend her medal at the 2028 Olympic Games, however, boxers and institutions are against including her again.
Read the full article here
