Eamonn Holmes has blasted the Olympic boxing committee after questions have been raised over the gender of two competitors in the female category.
The two boxers, who were disqualified from last year’s boxing World Championships for failing gender tests, have made it to the final of the Paris Olympics and the committee has faced questioning over their eligibility to compete.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting are guaranteed at least bronze medals in the women’s competition.
The International Boxing Association, who banned the pair from the World Championships, held a chaotic news conference on Monday which seemed to raise more questions than it answered.
Imane Khelif has been permitted to take part in the Paris Olympics despite controversy surrounding her involvementGETTYSpeaking about it on GB News, Eamonn Holmes said: “I thought they looked pathetic and their rulings looked pathetic. They don’t know what they’re doing at all.
“They don’t know. They did not look in control. And every time the guy would explain it, he just irritated me.”
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Author and commentator, Nichi Hodgson said: “We ban people with testosterone levels, certain levels of testosterone all the time.
“We need to get to the science of this and then make a decision.”
Political commentator Alex Armstrong argued: “They are males. They have a genetic advantage, I think most people will see this and think this feels like a further attack on biological women who are born women who may have disadvantages hormonally as they’re growing up compared to a man who would get more testosterone in their body, who are stronger.
“There’s a reason why there are two men in the final rather than it being more women.”
Eamonn Holmes slammed it as “pathetic”
GB News
Hodgson hit back: “It’s not about hormones, and the issue is people with this condition make up two per cent of the population.
“That’s a million people in Britain. It’s completely taboo and we don’t talk about it. We probably know someone ourselves.
“There’ll be people who don’t know themselves that maybe they have different chromosomes. That’s the only factor in defining everybody’s chromosome.
“Sex is not defined by your genitals. The scientific community tells us that.”
Hodgson said that “it is not about hormones”
GB News
The IOC said last week the “aggression” aimed towards Khelif and Lin was “based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure”.
They said in a statement last week: “All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations in accordance with rules 1.4 and 3.1 of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit.
“The PBU endeavoured to restrict amendments to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games.”