For the first time in boxing history, men and women are battling for the title of world champion in the same tournament, running until September 14 in Liverpool. Some 540 boxers from 66 countries, including 17 medalists from Paris 2024, are in England for this landmark event in the history of World Boxing. The young international federation, created in 2023, must, however, manage imbroglios due to the femininity tests it wanted to impose, which inevitably obscure the smooth running of the event.
The French federation is angry
While Imane Khelif has taken the Court of Arbitration for Sport to challenge the new protocol, another Paris 2024 Olympic champion, Lin Yu-ting, is also missing. The Taiwanese athlete had agreed to undergo the required test, but she was not seen in England, although the specific reasons for her were not disclosed. She wasn't the only one not to enter the ring: no French boxer was able to participate. As French law prohibits gender tests for sporting eligibility reasons, the French Boxing Federation had planned to conduct them upon its athletes' arrival on English soil, after discussing the matter directly with World Boxing. What was supposed to be a formality, however, turned into a trap.
World Boxing had directed the federation, " as well as other nations facing the same problem ", towards " a laboratory accredited by it ", in Leeds. " The International Federation expressly assured us that by carrying out the said tests on Monday, we would have the results within 24 hours and that we could therefore, without fail, present them when registering our boxers. However, despite the repeated guarantees from World Boxing, the laboratory, which it had itself recommended to us after ensuring that it was capable of responding to our request, was not able to provide us with the test results on time. As a result, our athletes were excluded, as well as other boxers from foreign delegations who also found themselves trapped. ", deplores the French Boxing Federation in a press release.
“Betrayal” and “lack of professionalism”
Dominique Nato, the president of the FFB, is furious. I take this as a betrayal and I called Boris Van der Vost, I tell him that he is taking away the dreams of the little girls, that it is not normal. He tells me that he is sorry for us, but that he could not do anything, that it is the decision of the lawyers of World Boxing. Since Imane Khelif sued World Boxing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport to contest these tests, they do not want to open a breach. It is a lack of professionalism of World Boxing, which is a young federation, which does not yet have each person in the right place. There was no need to rush into implementing these tests without measuring their impact. »
The French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) supported its federation, deploring a " unacceptable situation ". He emphasizes that “ Female boxers from the Philippines, Fiji and Nigeria also faced the same frustration " He thus promises to get closer to the NOCs of these countries " in order to agree on joint action " Nigerian Blessing Oraekwe, also caught out by a lab delay, has asked World Boxing to financially compensate for this hiccup. World Boxing, which claimed to want to protect athletes before this protocol, will have to take responsibility for this immense mess. The pressure will be even greater on World Athletics, which has also decided to impose gender testing, starting with the Tokyo World Championships.
