Imane Khelif stood atop the Olympic podium in Paris last year, draped in the Algerian flag and crowned champion of the women’s 63kg boxing division. But according to the man who runs the International Boxing Association, she should never have been there.
In an exclusive interview recently, IBA president Umar Kremlev has called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to strip Khelif of her gold medal and apologise to the other athletes, after revealing behind the scenes detail of ‘conclusive and repeated’ testing that found she does not meet the eligibility criteria to compete in the female category.
He went on to add that former IOC president Thomas Bach should be held personally responsible for the controversy, describing him as a ‘rat’ who has ‘put politics on the podium instead of athletes’.
Kremlev also praised President Donald Trump for enshrining into law the principle that women’s sport is for biological women, insisted that the IBA’s form of gender testing must take place before competition, and dismissed the idea of a third category in sport altogether.
His criticisms come as tensions between the IBA and the IOC reach boiling point — not just over Khelif’s case, but over what Kremlev sees as a broader failure of governance and fairness at the heart of the Olympic movement.
Speaking with open hostility toward the IOC’s leadership, he accused the organisation of abandoning sporting integrity in favour of political convenience.
‘There is a lot of corruption surrounding the IOC, and many violations of good sporting principles,’ Kremlev told Mail Sport. ‘The IOC is not fighting for the fairness in sport. The IOC is giving away medals based on their political interests. Imane Khelif should be made to return the Olympic medal from Paris.’
Kremlev’s remarks come amid renewed controversy over gender regulations in elite sport, and the widening chasm between the IOC and IBA in defining what makes an athlete eligible to compete in women’s divisions.
At the centre of it all is Khelif, the 25-year-old Algerian fighter who was disqualified from IBA-sanctioned events after two rounds of testing, first in 2022, then again in 2023, found she reportedly possessed XY chromosomes.
Yet, less than a year later, she was allowed to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, where she won gold under IOC eligibility rules, which prioritise legal documentation, such as passport sex designation, over biological testing.
Kremlev revealed the exact events leading up to their discovery of Khelif’s failed gender tests. The first round of tests came after coaches at the 2022 IBA Women’s World Championships in Istanbul raised concerns. Blood samples were collected from a group of athletes, including Khelif, and analysed by Sistem Tip Laboratory in Turkey.
‘The first test was carried out during the 2022 World Championships, after we noticed some suspicious, suspicious moments. We decided to test a group of athletes, not just one or two. Two of the results came back, let’s say, abnormal.
‘It was the first time we had encountered a situation like this, so we felt it was necessary to conduct a second round of testing to be absolutely sure before making such a serious decision.’
That follow-up test, conducted before Khelif’s scheduled appearance at the 2023 IBA World Championships in New Delhi, involved another round of blood analysis, this time by Dr Lal PathLabs in India.
That second test was done in 2023 and confirmed the same findings as the first, that they did not meet the eligibility requirements for female boxing. After that, the athletes were disqualified, and of course, we informed the IOC about the situation.
Both Khelif and another boxer, Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, were informed of the findings and given 21 days to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Neither athlete appealed. Both were disqualified. But only months later, Khelif returned to the ring, this time at the Paris Olympics, where she entered under IOC rules and secured the ultimate prize.
To Kremlev, this was a betrayal of the sport and the athletes. He told Mail Sport: ‘Thomas Bach has always put politics to the podium, not the athletes who should be there in fact. And that’s why a lot of sponsors have refused working the IOC further, because they are violating sports principles.
‘Thomas Bach is leaving his position and running away like a rat.
‘He should kneel and apologise to all the female boxers who became victims of this situation [regarding gender eligibility]. And he should financially compensate every athlete who suffered. And of course, the Olympic medals should be returned.’
The IBA president accused the IOC of politicising sport and dodging accountability, claiming the organisation has deflected criticism by blaming Russia for sowing disinformation.
‘Why is he putting everything on Russia’s shoulders? Why doesn’t he comment on the situation between Israel and Iran, or between Israel and Gaza?’
The IOC, for its part, has not publicly recognised the validity of the IBA tests. Instead, IOC spokesman Mark Adams previously said: ‘Those tests are not legitimate tests. The tests themselves, the process of the tests, the ad hoc nature of the tests are not legitimate. The testing, the method of the testing, the idea of the testing, which happened kind of overnight. None of it is legitimate and this does not deserve any response.’
Instead, the IOC it continues to follow its own transgender and intersex athlete guidelines, which require testosterone suppression for trans women and legal documentation confirming sex for classification.
Khelif, who has not recently challenged the test results and has remained silent on their findings – aside from a cryptic social media post – competed under her Algerian passport, which lists her sex as female.
Still, Kremlev remains defiant. He also expressed support for recent legislation in the United States that bans transgender women from competing in female categories, praising president Donald Trump for signing the order.
‘As you know, Donald Trump signed an order stating that women’s sport is for women and men’s sport is for men. I’m absolutely confident that no one will be able to bypass this at the Olympic Games now, because the rules have become very strict.
‘Everyone is copying us — they’re conducting gender tests and are now being forced to do so. What we were calling for all along, the rest of the world is finally doing. They can’t avoid it anymore, because the order has been signed — it’s now law in the United States.’
What emerges from Kremlev’s position is a fierce call for a single, science-based standard across all sport, not fragmented rules based on political alliances or paperwork. ‘There should be one rule that everyone follows. Gender testing before every event. That’s the only way to make sure the fight is fair,’ he said
The issue remains deeply contentious. Advocates for transgender and intersex athletes argue that such testing regimes are invasive, discriminatory and out of step with modern human rights law. But for Kremlev and others, it is about preserving the core values of boxing: equality, fairness, safety and trust in the outcome.
‘Everyone talks about inclusion,’ he said. ‘But in the ring, there are rules. And rules are there to protect. Without them, we don’t have sport. We just have chaos.’
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