Boxing body targets IOC with criminal complaints citing Trump order on transgender athletes

By Graham Dunbar

The International Boxing Association said Monday it will file criminal complaints against the International Olympic Committee in the U.S., France and Switzerland.

The Swiss-based IOC allowing women boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting compete and win gold medals in Paris last year “may serve as grounds for criminal prosecution,” the IBA claimed in a statement.

An executive order on transgender athletes by United States President Donald Trump was cited Monday by the Russian-led boxing body, which has been banished from the Olympics, to justify filing the criminal complaints.

“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,” the IBA said, adding “similar complaints are to be filed with the Attorneys General of France and the USA.”

The IBA, which has been funded by Russia state energy firm Gazprom, also promised free legal advice to women boxers to pursue cases against IOC president Thomas Bach and other senior Olympic officials.

“President Trump’s order to ban transgender athletes from women’s sport validates IBA’s efforts to protect the integrity of female sports,” the boxing body’s president Umar Kremlev said Monday.

The legal threats intensify a years-long feud between the now-exiled IBA and the IOC — and Kremlev against Bach — which took over control of running boxing tournaments at the past two Summer Games, in Tokyo and Paris.

The IOC has consistently said the boxers from Algeria and Taiwan, who were assigned female at birth and identify as women, complied with all rules for the Olympic tournament. Both also competed in Tokyo in 2021 and did not win medals.

Khelif and Lin had been disqualified from the 2023 world championships run by the IBA which said they failed eligibility tests.

Trump has frequently misgendered the boxers as