By Oliver Brown
J.K. Rowling has heralded World Boxing’s decision to block Imane Khelif from competing in female boxing as a “win for women”, after a leaked medical report indicated that the hugely controversial Olympic champion was a biological male.
The author applauded the governing body’s decision to prevent the Olympic gold medal winner, who is prohibited from making a comeback at this week’s Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands, from entering any future events in the female category without first undergoing mandatory sex screening.
Rowling’s remarks came hours after the explosive publication of the medical report that had triggered Khelif’s disqualification from the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi.
The document described Khelif’s test results as “abnormal”, stating: “Chromosome analysis reveals male karyotype.” The Indian laboratory that conducted the tests is certified by the American College of Pathologists and certified by the International Organisation for Standardisation in Switzerland.
“It’s a win for women because they won’t be battered to death in the ring by men,” Rowling said of World Boxing’s move.
She also took issue with a claim by an Australian account on X that the cheek swabs that Khelif would have to undergo constituted an “invasive physical examination”, writing: “If you had any idea what physical tests women go through routinely in their lives, you’d know a cheek swab is no bigger deal than flossing your teeth. Any more moronic questions, wing them over.”
Imane Khelif celebrates after defeating China’s Yang Liu to win gold in Paris.Credit: AP
Rowling was named by Khelif last summer in a lawsuit alleging cyber-bullying, after she posted a photograph of the Algerian’s 46-second Olympic win over Italy’s Angela Carini, accusing the victor of “enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head”.
To date, she has still not received any lawsuit. In the nine months since winning gold in Paris, Khelif – who did not follow through with an appeal against being disqualified in India two years ago – has also offered no scientific proof of being biologically female.
Rounding on Human Rights Watch, which said during the Paris Games that the International Olympic Committee were “right to stand against sex testing”, Rowling said: “To paraphrase Marie Shear: Feminism is the radical notion that women, too, are humans with rights.” Juxtaposing an image of the Black Power salute at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 with a picture of Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman making a double “X” sign in Paris to denote XX chromosomes, she said: “Some Olympics will be forever defined by photos the organisers would have preferred not to be taken.”
While the International Boxing Association banned Khelif from its events on the basis of biology, strictly defining womanhood by chromosomes, the IOC allowed the athlete to compete on the grandest stage in global sport because of female passport status. The consequence was an international scandal, with both Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting unanimously winning every bout in Paris en route to Olympic golds, despite both having failed sex tests the previous year. Lin, likewise, did not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over that verdict.
Scottish author J. K. Rowling has eased the peer pressure that has long silenced people.Credit: Getty
The IOC failed to respond to multiple requests for comment on the leaking of Khelif’s chromosomal results or the official certification of the Delhi laboratory that administered the tests. Mark Adams, the organisation’s spokesman, described the tests at a Paris press conference last year as “ad hoc” and “not legitimate”. While president Thomas Bach has sought to portray the banning of Khelif as a Russian-led misinformation exercise.
But the IBA, under Russian president Umar Kremlev, hit out strongly, calling on Khelif and Lin to apologise to the women whom they deprived of Olympic medals.
“The IBA remains unwavering in its decisions,” it said. “We stand firmly by our assessments and intentions. Notably, as World Boxing is set to receive identical results from these evaluations, we anticipate a forthcoming gesture of accountability – a formal apology from those athletes whose actions, inadvertently or otherwise, diverted well-deserved Olympic accolades away from our rightful female boxers.”
Imane Khelif, left, during a bout in Paris.Credit: Getty Images
Kotinos, the Qatari PR company representing Khelif, said: “Imane is a proven champion who has earned every step of her journey through hard work, discipline and heart.”
The statement offered no suggestion that Khelif would submit to a further sex test.
The London Telegraph
