Imane Khelif, Algeria, and Lin Yu-Ting, Taiwan, became targets for a heated debate about gender affiliation during the Olympic Games in Paris last year.
They participated as women and both took Olympic gold in their class. This despite being disqualified from the International Boxing Federation's World Championship 2023, as they did not pass the gender tests, and their opponents at the Olympic Games complained that Khelif and Lin hit too hard.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stood behind the boxers and stated that the International Boxing Federation's gender tests were not valid. Both boxers are born as women, but have both an X- and a Y-chromosome, which men usually have.
The newly formed International Boxing Federation, World Boxing, which has received a preliminary clearance to arrange the Olympic competitions in Los Angeles 2028, writes in a statement that the decision is taken to ensure the safety of all participants in WB's competitions "especially considering the physical risks within Olympic-style boxing (amateur boxing)".
All boxers over 18 years old will be tested by their national federation.
In its statement, WB specifically writes that it has informed Algeria's boxing federation that Khelif must undergo gender testing if she wants to participate in the women's class at the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands next week.
