The scandal surrounding Imane Khelif could even lead to the threat that boxing will be removed altogether from the events at the next summer Olympics, Zsolt Erdei told Origo. Similar controversies can only be prevented with transparent gender eligibility tests, Hungary's former boxing world champion opined.
As Magyar Nemzet has reported in several pieces, just when the future of boxing in the Olympic program seemed doubtful, perhaps one of the biggest scandals affecting the sport engulfed the Paris Olympics. Regarding the gender of Algerian Imane Khelif and Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting, no eligibility row would have unfolded, had the two boxers stayed away from the 57kg and 66kg women's boxing category. As Hungarian men's boxing champ Istvan "Koko" Kovacs told our paper, both athletes were among the five boxers who were subjected to gender testing because of certain physical characteristics. All five of them, including Khelif and Lin, were found to have both X and Y chromosomes, meaning they are biologically male.
The scandal puts boxing at risk, Zsolt Erdei says
If Algeria's Imane Khelif is indeed male or has male chromosomes, then unfair competition at the Paris Olympics has clearly taken place,
Zsolt Erdei told the portal, speaking about one of the biggest scandals at the Paris Games. The former professional boxing world champion said that he could not do justice in this case because completely conflicting information is coming to light to date, the portal reported.
In the wake of the current scandal, there is a possibility that the International Olympic Committee will remove boxing from the competitions, Zsolt Erdei said.
As the 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in the United States, the birthplace of boxing, there is a chance that this will not eventually happen, but the possibility remains.
Only a clear and transparent testing system could clarify such a situation, Zsolt Erdei pointed out, adding that he hopes that, by bringing national federations together, such a system will be in place before the 2028 Olympics and that a situation like the one we saw at the Paris Olympics can be avoided, Origo wrote.
