Olympics
Renowned Boxing Coach Raises Concerns Over Imane Khelif ‘Gender Eligibility’ Controversy at Paris 2024
Dave Coldwell, one of the UK’s leading trainers, has described the sight of two female boxers who failed gender eligibility tests fighting at the Paris Olympics as “uncomfortable” viewing.
Both Imane Khelif of Algeria and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting received the go ahead to compete from IOC chiefs despite returning reportedly adverse results during last year’s World Amateur Championships.
Khelif, who was subsequently disqualified from the tournament, won her first bout in the French capital earlier this week when her opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, retired after less than a minute. Lin was awarded a bronze medal during the championships in New Delhi, before later being stripped when its organisers, the International Boxing Association (IBA), reported both had shown signs of possessing XY chromosomes despite not identifying as transgender.
Coldwell's Discomfort with Gender Eligibility Controversy
Coldwell, who helped Tony Bellew become world cruiserweight champion following two previously unsuccessful challenges for the belt, acknowledged the issue surrounding Khelif and Lin is “not as black and white as is being portrayed” in some quarters but told SportsBoom.com: “I don’t know enough about this specific case to comment scientifically, so I won’t, and I have to be sensible. Still, it sits uncomfortably with me. I’m allowed to say that and if you don’t agree with that or have a problem with it then I’m not interested.”
“If I’ve got this wrong then so be it,” added Coldwell. “But I don’t like it.”
“If you want men to sprint against women then that’s bad enough. Because there’s a huge difference. Look at Usain Bolt’s world record over the 100 metres and there’s a huge gap between that and the women’s world record. That’s because of genetics.”
I don’t think it’s fair to have men who have changed gender competing against women in any sport. It’s not fair on women. But in combat sports, it becomes a matter of extreme danger. It’s just too dangerous.
Dave Coldwell
Coldwell, who currently works with 2018 Youth Olympic gold medallist Hopey Price at his gym in Rotherham, continued: “You get all sorts of things people think work well in theory. ‘This’ works well or ‘that’ works well and so on.
The Danger of Mixing Genders in Combat Sports
“But for me, it’s all about the eye test. It’s about the physical test and it’s not right.”
“Male versus male boxing can cause serious damage. Female versus female boxing can cause serious damage.”
“If you give someone performance enhancing drugs then it gives them an unfair advantage.”
IOC vs. IBA
The IOC does not recognise the IBA, whose president Umar Kremlev first revealed news of Khelif and Lin’s biochemical test results to Russian news agency TASS. Boxing at the Olympics is now being overseen by the Paris Boxing United, which was established in response to the IOC’s decision to expect the IBA from the Olympic movement after receiving allegations of rigged judging and financial mismanagement.
With the controversy surrounding the IOC’s ruling on Khelif and Lin set to rumble on, Coldwell said: “You can change to be what you want to be, be whoever you want to be.
“That’s not a problem for me and it shouldn’t be for anyone else. You can take female hormones, lower testosterone, and everything else."
But for me, if you were born a man, going in there and punching a female on the head is wrong and very, very dangerous. It just shouldn’t happen. For me, it’s just about right and wrong.
Dave Coldwell
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.