Imane Khelif: Boxing boss says Olympics is 'destroying women's sports' - as Algerian boxer in gender row guaranteed bronze in Paris

Her quarter-final win came as the head of the International Boxing Association (IBA) defended its decision to ban Khelif and another competitor from last year's World Championships for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Umar Kremlev, an acquaintance of Vladimir Putin, labelled the situation in Paris "truly terrifying" and asked: "How can the [International Olympic Committee] be right?"

However, the IBA has a troubled history and has been banned by the IOC over governance issues, alleged corruption and ties to Russia.

Khelif is set to win at least a bronze medal thanks to a second successive victory in the women's 66kg bout against Hungary's Anna Luca Hamori.

She now advances to the semi-finals on Tuesday where, even if she loses, she will still take home a medal.

The participation of Khelif and Lin Yu-ting at Paris 2024 has led to scrutiny as the IBA previously disqualified them following gender eligibility tests - although the details of these tests, where they were administered, who evaluated them or even what they were, has not been made public by the IBA.

The timing has also raised warning signs, with Khelif disqualified three days after she won a match against Azalia Amineva, a previously unbeaten Russian prospect. The disqualification meant Amineva's official record was perfect once again.

IBA chief Mr Kremlev has now said the tests were carried out by medical professionals "at the request of female athletes" and after "the women's coaches complained a lot".

"Here [at the IBA] we do everything transparently," he continued. "The only thing is that we cannot give away [is] medical documents. As president, I cannot do this - this is people's personal data, genetic data.

"I have no right to do this. It's like private property. They agreed to get tested, and the analysis showed that they had strong genes."

Mr Kremlev further took aim at the IOC and claimed it is "destroying women's sports".

"It's sad when we shout to the whole world that we are for gender equality, protection of women and then they simply destroy women's sports," he said. "We must not allow this to happen. If we remain silent now, then later it will become normal."

He continued: "This is why our relationship with [the IOC] is deteriorating - because they do not protect athletes. And we do protect athletes."

The IBA's beleaguered history

The International Olympic Committee has decades of mostly bad blood with the IBA, previously known as the AIBA, and it has exasperatedly begged non-boxing people to pay attention to the sole source of the allegations against Khelif and Lin.

In June last year, the IOC voted to strip the IBA of its status as the sport's world governing body after the IBA failed to meet set reforms following its 2019 suspension.

In response, the IBA said it had "successfully implemented" all the recommendations and accused the IOC of making a "tremendous error".

Its current president, Mr Kremlev was elected to the presidency of the IBA in December 2020 after previous boss, Gafur Rakhimov, a Uzbek businessman described by the US Treasury as an organised crime boss, resigned.

The IOC had stuck with the previous incarnation of boxing's governing body through decades of judging scandals, bizarre leadership decisions and alleged financial misdeeds while it presided over Olympic boxing tournaments.

But in 2019, nearly two years after the organisation elected a president with what US officials called deep ties to Russian organised crime and heroin trafficking, allegations Mr Rakhimov denies and has never been charged in any country for, the IOC finally banished the perpetually troubled group.

Mr Kremlev introduced Russian state-controlled Gazprom as its biggest sponsor and moved much of the IBA's operations to Russia after he took over in late 2020. It also banned Ukraine's national federation in September 2022, further souring relations with the IOC.

The IOC has permanently stripped the IBA's Olympic credentials and run the past two Olympic boxing tournaments with a task force. Boxing will be dropped entirely from the 2028 games in Los Angeles, unless the sport lines up behind a new governing body.

On Thursday, Algeria's Khelif won her fight in just 46 seconds, with opponent Angela Carini saying afterwards that she had "never felt a punch like this".

Khelif was cheered on by Algerian fans in the North Paris arena on Saturday after she tested her latest opponent with a series of stinging jabs.

Hamori responded with a few good shots of her own, including a big right hook in the second round, but Khelif remained in control of the match and emerged victorious on a unanimous decision.

Chinese Taipei fighter Lin also won her women's featherweight (-57kg) fight on Friday with a unanimous decision victory over Uzbekistan's Sitora Turdibekova.

Olympic boss addresses 'hate speech'

In a news conference on Saturday morning, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach addressed the criticism surrounding the two boxers and condemned the "hate speech" the pair have received on social media.

"Let's be very clear, we are talking about women's boxing," Bach said.

"We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman.

"This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman."

Carini apologised for her reaction post-fight and told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport: "All this controversy makes me sad.

"I'm sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision."

-SKY NEWS