Imane Khelif cancels appearance at Oxford Union due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’

A planned speaking appearance on Sunday at the Oxford Union by the boxer Imane Khelif, who controversially won Olympic gold in Paris, has been cancelled.

The Oxford Arab Society announced on Thursday evening that Khelif was unable to attend due to “unforeseen circumstances”. A letter had been sent earlier in the day to the Oxford Union by the former Olympian and Oxford University student Mara Yamauchi in which she urged organisers to uphold “rigorous debate” and free speech at the event.

Khelif won a gold medal in the women’s welterweight competition in Paris despite the International Boxing Association saying that she had been disqualified from last year’s world championships for failing gender eligibility criteria.

The IBA says that its results showed that Khelif has XY chromosomes. Following reports of unverified leaked medical documents that also claim she has XY chromosomes, the International Olympic Committee said that Khelif was taking “legal action against individuals who commented on her situation during the Olympic Games Paris 2024, and is also preparing a lawsuit in response to the latest reporting”.

Khelif maintains she is a woman and her father has produced her birth certificate which states that she was born female.

Yamauchi had written directly to the Oxford Union to suggest a series of questions. She also asked the Union to invite the boxers who lost to Khelif in Paris.

“The Oxford Union, as a bastion of free speech, is of course free to invite anyone it wishes,” said Yamauchi’s letter. “[It] is an excellent opportunity to hear directly from Khelif. The Union’s slogan is ‘Celebrating 200 years of free speech’, so I hope you will give sufficient time for these and similar questions and allow for robust scrutiny.”

The suggested questions included why Khelif withdrew an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport when she was first banned by the IBA, whether she would provide evidence of a sex test, and whether she supported Caster Semenya’s inclusion in previous Olympic Games.

Semenya, who was a gold medallist at 800m in 2012 and 2016, is now ineligible after World Athletics ruled that athletes with differences in sexual development must reduce their testosterone level to below 2.5 nanomoles per litre.

The IBA was stripped of recognition by the IOC last year over governance failures. That meant it was the IOC which ran – and set the entry criteria for – the Olympic boxing tournament in Paris.

The IOC based its gender eligibility rules for the boxing tournament on the passport details of athletes.