IOC’s Bach: Boxing furor just Russian deception

PYLOS, Greece — A gender dispute involving two women boxers at the 2024 Paris Olympics was the result of a Russian fake news campaign and had little to do with reality, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said Saturday.

Bach, who is stepping down in June after 12 years as president, said the IOC had to fight off many similar campaigns before and after the Paris Games.

The boxing competition at the Paris Games was run by the IOC after it stripped the International Boxing Association of recognition last year over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance. But the association, run by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev with close links to the Kremlin, accused the IOC of allowing two female athletes, Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, who had been banned by the IBA citing a chromosome test, to compete.

A bitter war of words ensued between the organizations during the Games.

“I would not consider this a real crisis because all this discussion is based on a fake news campaign coming from Russia,” Bach told Reuters at the southern Greek seaside resort where his successor will be elected Thursday. “This was part of the many, many fake news campaigns we had to face from Russia before Paris and after Paris.”

Several such campaigns happened before Paris, including what the IOC said at the time were repeated hacking attempts, as well as a prank call by a Russian group targeting Bach and pretending to be African Union Commission representatives.

Bach said the dispute over the boxers would have been a non-issue were it not for the IBA, given the two boxers had competed for years, including at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, with no problems.

The IOC does not have a universal rule on the participation of transgender athletes or athletes with differences of sexual development, with each federation drawing up its own regulations.

Bach also said he had no concerns about the preparations for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, calling U.S. President Donald Trump a strong supporter and promoter of the project.

“Let the organizing committee … continue to work with President Trump and his administration because they have established very good relations,” Bach said when asked what his advice to his successor would be regarding the Los Angeles Olympics and Trump. “The IOC should have confidence in their American partners and friends and confidence that President Trump from the beginning was a strong supporter and promoter of the Olympic Games.”