In boxing, fight over gender steals spotlight
PARIS—A gender eligibility dispute involving two women boxers, the threat of the ax hanging over it as an Olympic sport, and Uzbek dominance inside the ring combined to make for a boxing tournament unlike any other at the Paris Olympics.
The competition was overshadowed somewhat by the drama involving Algerian Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, with two weeks of headlines and social media debate over their eligibility.
The two were disqualified from the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA), which said sex chromosome tests had ruled them ineligible. But they competed in Paris after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped the IBA of its status and organized the boxing itself.
Khelif and Lin won gold medals in their events, sparking further outcry and renewing questions over whether athletes with Differences of Sexual Development should compete in women’s competitions.
Inside the ring, Uzbekistan and China won five medals apiece—and all of them gold in Uzbekistan’s case.
Uzbekistan also finished top in boxing in Rio with seven medals, but it had an Olympics to forget in Tokyo, where it won only one.
But with five golds from seven men’s categories this time around, they more than made up for Tokyo.
Defending super heavyweight champion Bakhodir Jalolov and featherweight Abdumalik Khalokov strolled to victory, while Rio light flyweight champion Hasanboy Dusmatov stepped up a weight class to add another gold medal to his cabinet.
“No other country participating today has such results. It’s the result of our hard work,” Jalolov said.
By contrast, Cuba’s haul of two medals was underwhelming for a country which has established itself as an amateur boxing powerhouse.
