MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. The issue of male and female athletes with elevated levels of testosterone taking part in women’s sports tournaments should raise concerns at the international level as it affects all sports, a senior Russian boxing official said on Monday.
"In women's boxing, this issue surfaced about five years ago," Russian Boxing Federation (RBF) Secretary General Tatyana Kiriyenko said speaking at a news conference in TASS on Monday. "The International Boxing Association is putting things in order regarding this issue, cleaning up the mess. Some of the female boxers don't look like women at all."
"This is very unpleasant. But, unfortunately this happens not only in the sport of boxing, but in other sports as well," Kiriyenko added.
The International Boxing Association (IBA) previously suspended several female athletes from the world championships in India’s New Delhi because of unusually high testosterone levels. In particular, the organization ruled to bar Algeria’s Imane Khelif, who defeated Russia’s Azaliya Amineva in the tournament's round of 16.
In 2021, Laurel Hubbard, a transgender athlete from New Zealand, officially debuted at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in women’s weightlifting, but failed to clear the opening stage in the 87-kilograms weight category.
Hubbard, who was born a male and then transitioned to female in 2012, won a silver medal at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships in the women’s under 90-kg weight category.