Olympic champion Imane Khelif fights World Boxing’s genetic sex testing rule

Algeria's Imane Khelif, right, fights China's Yang Liu in their women's 66 kg final boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Olympic champion Imane Khelif has appealed against a World Boxing decision barring her from upcoming events unless she undergoes genetic sex testing.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Monday that the Algerian boxer filed the appeal last month.

Khelif was bidding to compete in the world boxing championships which start on Thursday, but CAS added that on Monday it dismissed a request to suspend the World Boxing decision until the case was heard.

Khelif won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics last year amid international scrutiny on her and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, another gold medal winner. The previous governing body for Olympic boxing, the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association, disqualified both fighters from its 2023 world championships after claiming they failed unspecified eligibility tests.

But the IBA was banished because of decades of misdeeds and controversy. The IOC ran the past two Olympic boxing tournaments in its place and it applied the sex eligibility rules used in previous Olympics. Under those standards, Khelif and Lin were eligible to compete.

World Boxing has since been provisionally approved as the boxing organizer at the 2028 Los Angeles Games and has faced pressure from boxers and their federations to create sex eligibility standards.

In May, the governing body announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes and specifically mentioned Khelif when announcing the policy — something it later apologized for.

Khelif plans to defend her welterweight gold medal at the LA Games. New IOC president Kirsty Coventry has initiated a task force to look at gender eligibility issues.

The Associated Press