Olympic peace is way from being established within the ring. Lower than a month after the curtain got here down on Paris 2024, the Worldwide Boxing Affiliation (IBA) has unleashed a storm that threatens to tarnish some of the talked-about girls’s podiums of the event: the one headed by Algeria’s Imane Khelif. The explanation? A tangle of medical checks, contradictory choices and direct accusations in opposition to the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) and its former president, Thomas Bach.
Umar Kremlev, the present head of the IBA, didn’t maintain again. In a convention that appeared extra like a counterattack in the course of an institutional struggle, he accused the IOC of permitting Khelif’s participation though she had beforehand been banned by his group after failing two medical eligibility checks. In keeping with him, the boxer’s path to Olympic gold mustn’t have been allowed.
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Imane Khelif, the controversy that began at Paris 2024
Khelif made headlines lengthy earlier than she stepped onto the rostrum. In 2022, amid rising suspicions expressed by different athletes, the IBA determined to use blood checks to a number of opponents, together with the Algerian. The outcomes, Kremlev defined, confirmed “irregular” parameters. Regardless of this, and recognizing that it was uncharted territory for the federation, they determined to repeat the checks months later. The decision was the identical: she was not match to compete below the requirements set by the IBA.
The shock for the group got here when the IOC, ignoring these studies, opened the door for Khelif to take part within the Paris 2024 Video games. Not solely that, she received gold. A outcome that, for Kremlev, must be annulled. “Each athlete who suffered due to this determination must be financially compensated,” he mentioned, referring to the boxers who had been neglected or eradicated by Khelif throughout the event.
The dispute between the IOC and the IBA
The IBA president’s speech was not restricted to the athlete. In his speech, he pointed instantly at Thomas Bach, accusing him of getting promoted an agenda that weakened the authority of worldwide federations in favor of the IOC. “This isn’t sporting justice, it’s institutional manipulation,” he mentioned.
In the meantime, neither the IOC nor Khelif herself have publicly responded to those accusations. The potential for her medal being taken away is on the desk, however the battle guarantees extra chapters. The political ring of Olympic sport is simply starting to warmth up.
