(adds word gender to headline, no change to story)
PARIS (Reuters) – Two boxers who were disqualified from last year’s World Championships for failing gender eligibility tests are eligible to compete at the Paris Olympics, the International Olympic Committee said on Monday.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif was disqualified hours before her gold medal bout at the women’s World Championships in New Delhi last year after she failed to meet the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) eligibility criteria.
Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting also lost her bronze medal at the same competition after she too failed to meet the criteria.
At the time, IBA president Umar Kremlev told Russian news agency TASS that the boxers had “XY chromosomes”.
The World Championships were organised by the IBA, which is no longer a federation recognised by the IOC.
The boxing competition at the Paris Olympics is being organised by the Paris Boxing Unit (PBU), an ad-hoc unit established by the IOC’s Executive Board.
“All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations in accordance with rules 1.4 and 3.1 of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit,” the IOC said in a statement.
“The PBU endeavoured to restrict amendments to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games.”
Khelif next faces Angela Carini in a welterweight bout on Thursday, while Yu-ting takes on either Marcelat Sakobi or Sitora Turdibekova in the featherweight division on Friday.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris)
