Imane Khelif stood tall on the podium in Paris last year, wrapped in the Algerian flag with Olympic gold around her neck. But now, the very body that oversees international boxing says she never should’ve been there.
The president of the International Boxing Association, Umar Kremlev, is demanding the International Olympic Committee revoke Khelif’s medal, citing failed gender eligibility tests and accusing the IOC of bending the rules to serve political agendas.
“She didn’t meet the requirements, and they knew it,” Kremlev told Mail Sport. “This isn’t just about one athlete. It’s about fairness, about everyone else who followed the rules and got robbed.”
‘Suspicious Moments’ And Silent Disqualifications
According to Kremlev, the IBA conducted two separate rounds of gender eligibility testing on Khelif- once during the 2022 Women’s World Championships in Istanbul and again ahead of the 2023 Worlds in New Delhi. In both cases, labs in Turkey and India flagged results indicating that Khelif possessed XY chromosomes. Coaches had reportedly raised early concerns based on “suspicious moments” during competition.
Neither Khelif nor another disqualified boxer, Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, appealed the findings. The IBA disqualified both. Yet months later, Khelif returned to the ring, this time under IOC rules, and won Olympic gold in the 63kg division.
World Boxing announced the introduction of mandatory testing to prove eligibility of male and female athletes.
— Hrayr Dallakyan (@HrayrDallakyan) June 25, 2025
Imane Khelif has been told to return her Paris Olympic gold medal by the president of the boxing authority, that was stripped of running the event in 2024. pic.twitter.com/nFqVVPrX3V
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral Boxing stories via Google! Follow Us
The IOC, for its part, isn’t buying the IBA’s version. Spokesman Mark Adams dismissed the tests as “not legitimate” and claimed the IBA acted without due process. The IOC bases eligibility on legal documents and testosterone levels, not chromosomal makeup. Khelif entered Paris with an Algerian passport that identified her as female.
Kremlev isn’t backing down. He labeled former IOC president Thomas Bach a “rat” and blamed him for “putting politics on the podium instead of athletes.” He even called for financial compensation for the female boxers affected and praised Donald Trump’s executive order defining women’s sport as exclusive to biological women.
“This isn’t about inclusion,” Kremlev said. “This is about protecting the ring. Without clear rules, we don’t have sport—we have chaos.”
With the IBA and IOC locked in a bitter standoff, and public sentiment increasingly split, Khelif’s gold now hangs in the middle of a global fight that’s far bigger than boxing.
