There are moments in sports history when progress loops back and starts to resemble an old rerun. Olympic boxing gold medalist Imane Khelif, fresh off her Paris win, has become the latest athlete caught in one such archival echo as World Boxing—keen to distance itself from its predecessors’ misdeeds—institutes a new round of mandatory genetic sex screening. This time, though, it’s being billed as state-of-the-art.
From Podium to PCR: Khelif in the Spotlight
As reported by AP News, World Boxing rolled out its requirement that all athletes over 18 undergo a PCR genetic test to confirm sex at birth before competing. The policy was given a distinctly personal edge when the governing body specifically named Khelif in its announcement and stated she would not be cleared to appear in any of its upcoming events—including the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands—without first submitting to the test. According to the outlet, the organization insists this is a global requirement, tasking national federations with both arranging and reporting the results.
The rationale, as detailed in World Boxing’s official statement and cited in both AP News and ABC News Australia, is to “ensure the safety of all participants and deliver a competitive level playing field for men and women.” The sport’s new eligibility framework comes after recent controversies, notably around Khelif and her fellow Paris gold medalist Lin Yu-ting. Both found themselves at the center of a gender eligibility dispute in 2023 when the International Boxing Association (IBA) disqualified them from its world championships for unspecified eligibility test failures—a ruling rendered moot when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) permitted their Olympic participation under existing rules, as AP News further recounts.
Rewinding the Rulebook: The Return of Chromosome Testing
For anyone thinking, “haven’t we seen this before?”—yes, we have. Chromosome testing in elite sports was largely shelved in the 1990s. As AP News emphasizes, this was due to ambiguous findings in athletes with differences in sex development (DSD) and a growing recognition that the tests didn’t capture the full spectrum of human biology. Most sports pivoted toward hormone testing, aiming to draw lines with testosterone thresholds, but ended up deep in their own scientific and ethical weeds—debating what counts as “fair,” and who gets to decide.
Yet, as ABC News Australia outlines, World Athletics—the body governing track and field—reintroduced chromosome testing earlier this year, now requiring female athletes to take the test once during their careers. World Boxing’s newly adopted protocol involves using a mouth swab, saliva, or blood sample to detect “the presence of the Y chromosome”—in their words, the biological marker for male sex. If an athlete planning to compete in the women’s category tests positive for male chromosomal material, AP News explains, further steps include referral to independent clinical specialists for additional genetic, hormonal, or anatomical screening, with an appeals process available.
This cascade of policy, science, and appeals appears straightforward on paper. In practice, as Olympic history shows and both AP News and ABC News Australia note, it’s anything but tidy—a highly charged intersection where biology, fairness, and bureaucracy regularly collide, and not always in predictable fashion.
Between Science and Politics: The Rules (and Rhetoric) of Boxing
According to ABC News Australia, the policy’s timing is as much about politics and perception as about athlete safety. Some boxing federations and athletes had protested Khelif’s inclusion even before World Boxing’s new rule; the Paris Olympics themselves unfolded under a cloud of rumors and anxiety about the eligibility of specific fighters. Attempts by World Boxing to frame the new rules as “safeguarding athletes in combat sports” are clearly aimed at appeasing these pressures.
Notably, the international political environment is hardly a background hum here. ABC News Australia points out that policy momentum has been affected by executive actions such as US President Donald Trump’s order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports categories and rigorous rules set by World Athletics regarding naturally high testosterone in women. Khelif, for her part, previously accused the IBA of “baseless lies and misinformation” about her eligibility and said that she would not be intimidated by outside political rhetoric, emphasizing that she is not transgender and remains determined to defend her title at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
Both outlets confirm that World Boxing’s membership, including the Algerian federation, has ballooned in the past year as the organization seeks to replace the scandal-hit IBA while navigating a thicket of regulatory demands. High-profile changes like this, adopted by World Boxing’s executive board under what ABC News Australia calls “special or emergency circumstances,” signal a willingness to override slower, more democratic rulemaking processes for immediate effect.
Red Tape and Right Hooks
If there’s any irony sharper than a boxer’s jab, it’s in watching a sport built on decisive outcomes get muddled in swabs, paperwork, and procedural intrigue. While the stated aim, according to both AP News and ABC News Australia, is a “level playing field,” the practical result is that top athletes like Khelif now find themselves facing not just their opponents, but a labyrinth of administrative and medical scrutiny.
And in an era where one’s competitive eligibility can pivot overnight on the details of a genetic readout, the long-standing question remains: does this degree of oversight actually deliver fairness—or just another round of uncertainty and controversy?
So as Imane Khelif waits for her official clearance—mouth swab in hand, career paused—the world is left to consider, once again: what counts as “fair” in a ring where the rules themselves seem more contentious than any title fight? And if the bureaucracy ever does keep pace with the athletes, who will have the stamina to make it over the final bell?
