IOC leader says hate speech directed at Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting is unacceptable
![Imane Khelif of Algeria before her fight with Angela Carini of Italy in Paris on Thursday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]](https://image.koreajoongangdaily.com/12128192.webp?imageId=12128192&width=960&height=640&format=jpg)
IOC President Thomas Bach said Saturday the hate speech directed at boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting at the Paris Olympics is “totally unacceptable.”
“We will not take part in a politically motivated … cultural war,” Bach said at a news briefing
Khelif of Algeria and Lin of Taiwan have been subjected to days of global scrutiny about their gender.
The Russian-led International Boxing Association — which has been banished from the Olympics by the IOC in a yearslong dispute — removed them from the worlds 16 months ago in India citing gender-based tests that are unspecified and unproven.
“We have two boxers who are born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and have competed for many years as women,” Bach said. “Some want to own a definition of who is a women.”
Both Khelif and Lin competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and did not win medals.
AP
