Two athletes have been cleared to compete at the women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics having been disqualified from last year’s World Championships for failing to meet eligibility criteria.
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal in the March 2023 event after failing a gender eligibility test.
Information from the International Olympic Committee also showed Algeria’s Imane Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
No further details were given on why Lin, 28, and Khelif, 25, were disqualified from last year’s World Championships.
The International Boxing Association organised that event but is no longer recognised by the IOC.
The BBC has, as yet, been unable to determine what the gender tests consist of.
“All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations in accordance with rules 1.4 and 3.1 of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit,” the IOC said in a statement.
“The PBU [Paris Boxing Unit] endeavoured to restrict amendments to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games.”
Section 3.1 of those regulations states that a medical certificate must be “duly stamped and signed by relevant medical authority within the previous three months for all boxers”.
Both competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 and Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women Amateur Boxing Championships.
On Tuesday IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven’t just suddenly arrived – they competed in Tokyo.
“The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
“In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level.”
Welterweight Khelif faces Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday, and featherweight Lin takes on either Marcelat Sakobi or Sitora Turdibekova on Friday.
