Laura Woods wades into boxing’s gender row as she praises claims IOC ‘failed to protect female athletes’ and takes on social media users dismissing her stance after Imane Khelif’s Olympic gold triumph

Popular presenter Laura Woods weighs in on the gender debate in Olympic boxing.

Much of the talk surrounding the women’s boxing matches at Paris 2024 has focused on Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, who both won gold medals.

Algerian welterweight Khelif and Taiwanese featherweight Lin were allowed to compete despite being disqualified from last year’s IBA Women’s World Championships for failing to meet the eligibility criteria.

The IBA was previously responsible for Olympic boxing events before the IOC ended the partnership over governance and financial concerns. Despite not being directly involved in the 2024 Olympics, the IBA made several statements during the Games.

One of them came from IBA director Chris Roberts, who said of Khelif and Lin: ‘The results of the chromosome testing showed that both boxers were ineligible. [for the tournament in 2023].

Roberts said the test results were sent to the IOC in June last year and the body had “done nothing” with them.

On Sunday morning, the last day of the 2024 Paris Olympics, The TelegraphOliver Brown published an article entitled: ‘Blinded by ideology: Inside the boxing feud that undermined the IOC and tarnished the Olympics’.

Brown stated in the article that IOC President Thomas Bach “failed in his duty to protect female athletes by allowing Khelif and Lin to win gold despite their failed sex tests.”

A day after the article was published, talkSPORT and TNT Sports presenter Woods responded to a tweet from the author on X (formerly Twitter).

Woods wrote: “Great article Oli,” followed by an applause emoji.

The comment prompted hundreds of responses to Woods, who then took to the social media network to engage in a discussion with several fans.

A fan tweeted: “It’s a horrible article wtf?” Woods disputed the comment by asking: “What’s horrible about it? Specifically.”

Another comment directed at Woods read: ‘Actually, that’s not true, do some more research!’ Woods responded: ‘Which part?’

Another fan simply wrote, “Ewww,” to which Woods responded, “What’s eww, Jamie? Be more specific.”

One of the longer tweets directed at Woods read: ‘Pretty poor – She had tests to prove her gender and she was born female. No evidence she failed the XY tests either.’

Woods demanded more information, writing, “What tests were those and where is the evidence of that?”

Another fan pointed out that Khelif had also competed at the 2021 Games, where she lost to Ireland’s Kellie Harrington in the quarterfinals of the women’s lightweight event. “I’m trying to find the one he did when she fought and lost in Tokyo,” they wrote. “Do you have a link to that?”

Woods responded, “That’s what you got out of this whole article? Or did you not read it?”

Meanwhile, Woods was addressed in a message saying: ‘You can never refute the Tories’ accusations, Laura’.

She replied: ‘I’m way past the point where I care about pleasing other people on social media, Oli.’

Lin and especially Khelif faced a flood of criticism during the Games.

After winning gold, Khelif had a strong message for her critics. “I am fully qualified,” she said. “I am a woman like any other woman. I was born as a woman, I have lived as a woman, I have fought as a woman – there is no doubt about that.”

The 25-year-old added: ‘Of course there are enemies of success. That gives my success a special flavour through these attacks.’

Khelif also had a political message. “I want to tell the world that they should commit to the Olympic principles and not bully people,” she said.

“This is the message of the Olympics. I hope people stop bullying. We are at the Olympics to perform as athletes, for our families. I hope we don’t see similar attacks in the future.”