Olympics chief calls unexpected press conference to defend Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting’s participation in women’s boxing as he insists they were ‘born as women, raised as women and have female passports’

Olympics boss Thomas Bach has hit back in the boxing gender row that has engulfed the Games – declaring that both athletes at the centre of the storm meet ‘the clear definition of a woman’.

Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan‘s Lin Yu-Ting were cleared to compete in the female section in Paris despite being disqualified from last year’s World Championships after reportedly failing gender tests, with the resulting furore threatening to overshadow the competition.

Both were victorious in their opening bouts, with Khelif – who fights later on Saturday – progressing in her welterweight clash with Angela Carini after the tearful Italian withdrew just 46 seconds in, later saying she quit ‘to preserve my life’.

The issue has sparked a polarised global debate. But Bach, who made an unexpected appearance at a press conference on Saturday morning, hit out at the ‘hate speech’ aimed at both athletes and added he had no problems with their participation.

‘To put an end (to the row) to it is more up to you than us,’ he told reporters. 

‘We are talking about women’s boxing. We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who were raised as women, who have passport as woman who have competed for many years as women. This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.’

Bach also claimed the IOC was working within the only framework available to it.

‘What we see now is that some want to own the definition of who is a woman,’ the German said. 

‘I can only invite them to come up with a scientific-based new definition of who is a woman and how can someone born, raised, who competed as a woman not be considered a woman. If they come up with something we are ready to look into it but we will not take part in a politically-motivated cultural war. Allow me to say what is going on in this context in social media with all this hate speech, aggression and abuse, fuelled by this agenda is totally unacceptable.’

The IBA, which is effectively at war with the IOC, have failed to provide clear detail, other than to say that both failed gender tests which were carried out after concerns were raised.

The decision to expel the boxers was made by the IBA, which is led by a Russian, and which was stripped of its role as organiser of the Olympics competition amid concerns over governance.

When asked if the furore was the result of a Russian disinformation campaign aimed at destabilising the Games, Bach responded: ‘What we have seen from the Russian side and in particular from the IBA, whose recognition we had to withdraw for many reasons, they have undertaken way before these Games with a defamation campaign against France, against the Games, against the IOC.’

Bach added: ‘They have made a number of comments in this respect which I do not want to repeat. If you want to have an idea about the credibility of information coming from this non-recognised federation I can only suggest you look into the comments they have made recently and make your own judgement.’