The International Olympic Committee is facing legal action for refusing to ban Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting from the women’s boxing competition at last summer’s Olympics.

After Donald Trump’s ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ executive order last week, the International Boxing Association said it would file an official complaint with the attorney generals of Switzerland, France and the United States about the IOC’s handling of the gender eligibility row that engulfed Paris 2024.

Khelif and Lin were allowed to compete – and win gold – in the women’s boxing competition last summer despite being thrown out of the previous year’s World Championships for failing sex tests.

The boxing event at Paris 2024 was run by the IOC rather than the IBA, which was stripped of the right to do so amid a row over how the international federation had been run since a corruption scandal centred around the 2016 Games.

The IOC refused to acknowledge the validity of the testing carried out by the IBA to conduct its own assessment of Khelif and Lin, both of whom were assigned female at birth but are suspected to have been born with differences of sex development.

IOC ‘disregarded IBA’s critical information’

Announcing the legal action, the IBA said in a statement: “International Boxing Association (IBA) prides itself on being the sole international federation committed to safeguarding the rights of the athletes worldwide and upholding the integrity of female sports. The executive order of USA president Donald Trump ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ proves that IBA stood firm, rightfully protecting female boxers from unfair competition.

“In light of the gender eligibility issues surrounding boxers in 2022 and 2023, the IBA proactively conducted all necessary testing and subsequently banned individuals deemed ineligible from participating in women’s competitions. Despite notifying the IOC about the disqualification of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, the IOC disregarded this critical information, allowing both athletes to compete in the qualifiers and ultimately at the 2024 Olympics, where they secured gold medals, denying opportunities to deserving female athletes.

“As a result, IBA is filing an official complaint with the Attorney General of Switzerland, Mr Stefan Blätter, regarding the IOC’s actions that facilitated the participation of these ineligible athletes in the 2024 Olympic boxing tournament in Paris. According to the Swiss law, any action or inaction that poses a safety risk to competition participants warrants investigation and may serve as grounds for criminal prosecution. In addition, similar complaints are to be filed with the Attorneys General of France and the USA.”

‘We will not stand by and watch men batter females’

IBA president Umar Kremlev added: “President Trump’s order to ban transgender athletes from women’s sport validates the IBA’s efforts to protect the integrity of female sports.”

He also urged boxers affected by the IOC’s decision to allow Khelif and Lin to compete in women’s boxing to pursue legal action against IOC president Thomas Bach, sports director Kit McConnell, and their respective teams.

He added: “IBA will provide free-of-charge comprehensive legal support to our boxers in these lawsuits, as this is a clear violation of human rights, an outrage towards the female boxers, and simply a crime that should be punished accordingly. In my personal opinion, Thomas Bach should take the full responsibility for this, as he was in charge when it happened, and he needs to compensate the damages caused, if the court or any other instance rules this.”

Monday’s announcement came less than a week after President Trump signed his executive order during a ceremony at which he indicated he would not be allowing any overseas transgender athletes to compete against women at the next Olympics in Los Angeles.

“In Los Angeles in 2028, my administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes. We’re not going to let it happen,” said Trump, who made last summer’s row over Khelif and Lin a central theme of his election campaign last year.

“Just to make sure, I’m also directing our secretary of homeland security to deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the US while identifying as women athletes to try and get into the Games.”

The IOC has been approached for comment.