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Lord Seb Coe hits out at Olympics bosses after boxing gender controversy

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Lord Seb Coe has questioned the IOC’s failure to establish a policy that would have prevented the Olympics boxing gender controversy.

The World Athletics president believes it would be impossible to keep everyone satisfied with a ruling - but the failure to implement ANY guidance has fuelled a saga that has cast a wide shadow over the Paris Games.

Both Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting were last year banned from competing in the world amateur championships after failing to meet eligibility criteria. But they are already assured of Olympic medals.

Khelif, 25, faces Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in a -66kg semi-final at Roland Garros on Tuesday night, with 28-year-old Yu-ting taking on Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman in the -57kg division on Wednesday. And for Coe the problem has stemmed from a lack of planning by Olympics chiefs.

“It's unvarnished, have a policy,” he said. “Be clear and have a policy. You’re never going to make everybody happy but you have to plant the flagpole down somewhere and that’s why it was so important for us.”

World Athletics were one of the first governing bodies to formulate regulations around athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) - following the lengthy court battle involving South African middle distance runner Caster Semenya. Triathlon and swimming are among those to have followed suit in imposing strict conditions.

While the IOC ordinarily leaves such calls to the governing bodies of individual sports, their decision to cut ties with the International Boxing Association because of its ties to Russia left a hole.

Imane Khelif is one of the boxers at the centre of the controversy (
Image:
Mehmet Murat Onel/Anadolu via Getty Images)

They have temporarily assumed control of boxing and warned a breakaway body - World Boxing - that it must get its act together if the sport is to remain part of the programme at Los Angeles 2028.

But neglecting to create regulations around the participation of DSD athletes in Paris has backfired, leading to mixed messaging from the IOC and criticism from all sides. Coe added: “I did five years on the British Boxing Board of Control as an administrative steward and I have daughters.

“How do you think I feel about this? But in a way that's incidental. The most important thing is to have a policy. Be clear cut about it and have a policy that you are able to stand behind because it's your North Star. If you don't, then you get into this sort of territory.”

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