Women’s Rights Orgs Issue USOPC Demand Letter, IOC’s Sanctioned Abuse of Women

Coalition of Women’s Rights Orgs Issue Demand Letter to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to Forcefully Condemn the International Olympic Committee’s Sanctioned Abuse of Women

IOC permitting men to compete in women’s boxing in Paris Olympic Games abandons the principles of fair competition and equal opportunity for women which the Olympic Charter pledges to uphold.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Our Bodies, Our Sports, the nation’s first and only coalition of women’s advocacy organizations fighting for fairness in women’s sports, issued a letter to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) demanding the USOPC immediately and forcefully condemn the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for failing to protect women and for permitting males to compete in combat sports. 

On Thursday, August 1, 2024, a man will fight a woman in a boxing ring at the Paris Olympic Games and again on the following day. On the largest stage in the world, at an event that should symbolize the best of humanity, male violence against women will become a sport. 

The letter, signed by Our Bodies, Our Sports member organizations — women’s rights organizations, feminist organizations, sports organizations, female Olympicans and lawyers — urges the USOPC to file protests and to use every legal, public, and diplomatic opportunity at its disposal to protect female boxers and demand that the male athletes are immediately removed from the women’s boxing competition. 

“On the largest stage in the world, at an event that should symbolize the best of humanity, male violence against women will become a sport. A man’s punch is over 160% stronger than that of a woman. And now, we are all aware that a male will purposefully and violently strike a woman in sport in front of a crowd of spectators. This will provoke shock and outrage in every decent man and woman. But shock and outrage from the public at large will not be sufficient to stop the normalization and mainstreaming of violence against women. U.S. female athletes and the women of the world and all who care about fairness and integrity in sport need you to immediately stand up against the International Olympic Committee’s sanctioned abuse of women. Ending this barbaric practice will require every Olympic leader to stand up and be counted on a pivotal question for both sport and civilization,” the letter reads.

The two male athletes competing in the Paris Olympics in Women’s Boxing are Imane Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting from Taiwan. Both athletes were disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships last year in India by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after failing the gender eligibility criteria. In a statement released today, the IBA said, “This decision, made after a meticulous review, was extremely important and necessary to uphold the level of fairness and utmost integrity of the competition.” These tests “conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.”

These decisions were legally binding.

Within recent months, the International Olympic Committee assumed rule-making for boxing and the IOC is permitting these men to compete in women’s boxing in the Paris Olympic Games. “The IOC’s decision to allow males to compete against women in a combat sport abandons the principles of fair competition and equal opportunity for women which the Olympic Charter pledges to uphold,” the letter states.

“The IOC’s decision marks a descent into barbarism and ignores basic safeguarding for women, a responsibility that falls squarely on the shoulders of all leaders throughout the Olympic Movement. The consequences of the IOC’s failure to protect women against male violence will not be insignificant. The physical abuse of women on an Olympic stage will undermine the integrity of all Olympic events by grossly increasing the risks of lifelong injury or even death for female athletes. All who fail to speak up against this atrocity are complicit in it.”

Upon return of the U.S. delegation from the Paris Olympic Games, Our Bodies, Our Sports member organizations are demanding that Congress hold hearings to “consider all additional actions that can be taken to apply maximum pressure upon the IOC and any other sport organization that has provided aid and comfort to the IOC and these barbarous practices, including scrutiny of the role of the USOPC.”

Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition includes Independent Council on Women’s Sports, Women’s Declaration International USA, Independent Women’s Forum, Champion Women, Women’s Sports Policy Working Group, International Consortium on Female Sport, Concerned Women for America, Independent Women’s Law Center, Young Women for America, Independent Women’s Voice, Women’s Liberation Front, and Independent Women’s Network.

A copy of the letter was emailed and sent via certified mail to USOPC.

Our Bodies, Our Sports has requested a response from the USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland and Board Chair Gene Sykes.