Olympic officials face criminal complaints in three countries over boxing controversy

The International Boxing Association are ready to file criminal complaints against the International Olympic Committee in the United States, France and Switzerland.

The Swiss-based IOC allowing women boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting to compete and win gold medals in Paris last year “may serve as grounds for criminal prosecution”, the IBA claimed in a statement.

An executive order on transgender athletes by United States President Donald Trump was cited on Monday by the Russian-led boxing body, which has been banished from the Olympics, to justify filing the criminal complaints.

“According to the Swiss law, any action or inaction that poses a safety risk to competition participants warrants investigation and may serve as grounds for criminal prosecution,” the IBA said, adding “similar complaints are to be filed with the attorneys general of France and the USA.”

The IBA, who have been funded by Russia state energy firm Gazprom, also promised free legal advice to women boxers to pursue cases against IOC president Thomas Bach and other senior Olympic officials.

“President Trump’s order to ban transgender athletes from women’s sport validates IBA’s efforts to protect the integrity of female sports,” the boxing body’s president, Umar Kremlev, said on Monday.

The legal threats intensify a years-long feud between the now-exiled IBA and the IOC — and Kremlev against Bach. The IOC took over control of running boxing tournaments at the past two Summer Games, in Tokyo and Paris.

The IOC has consistently said the boxers from Algeria and Taiwan, who were assigned female at birth and identify as women, complied with all rules for the Olympic tournament. Both also competed in Tokyo in 2021 and did not win medals.

Khelif and Lin had been disqualified from the 2023 world championships run by the IBA which said they failed eligibility tests.

Trump has signed an executive order, titled Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, which aims to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.

The next Summer Games come to Los Angeles in July 2028, during Trump’s presidential term, and he urged the IOC last week to change everything “having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject”.

The IOC has been approached for comment.

Top-tier Olympic sports track and field, swimming and cycling already exclude athletes who went through male puberty from competing in women’s events.

All track and field athletes wishing to compete in the elite women’s category will be required to prove they are biologically female via a cheek swab under new rules set to be adopted by the sport.

World Athletics are consulting with athletes on the impact of proposed changes to its regulations on the eligibility of transgender women and athletes with differences of sexual development.

The effect of the new proposals would be to treat both transgender and DSD athletes the same, with all athletes wishing to continue, or start, competing in the elite female category required to prove they are biologically female through a cheek swab.

The test, which athletes would only need to take once in their careers, would look for the SRY gene, which is almost always on the male Y chromosome and is used as a highly accurate proxy for biological sex.

A dry spot blood test could also be used to determine an athlete’s testosterone levels, in addition to the presence of the SRY gene.

The proposals have been developed by a working group on gender diverse athletes, with the consultation period beginning on Monday and continuing until March 5.

A World Athletics Council meeting later in March is expected to set out when the new regulations could be introduced.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has made the protection of the female category a key pillar of his manifesto to be elected president of the International Olympic Committee next month.