The Olympic boxing scene has become a social issues and media minefield after Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting were disqualified from the IBA's 2023 world championships in Delhi for failing gender eligibility tests carried out by the international federation -which was stripped of its legitimacy by the International Olympic Committee in June 2023-, without specifying what such tests were.

At the Paris Games, where both are scheduled to compete in the semi-finals, it’s basically the IOC’s show to run, since the Thomas Bach-run organization temporarily took over IBA’s previous role citing financial, governance and ethical concerns for the then governing body. Disregarding the IBA’s previous disqualification, the IOC cleared the two boxers to fight and both are now guaranteed a bronze medal, at least, having made the semi-finals round.

After the controversy spiralled last weekwhen Angela Carini decided to end her fight with Khelif after only 46 seconds, the IOC and the IBA again feuded over the motives and alleged different takes on gender eligibility that turned ugly and spilled into online abuse for both previously disqualified athletes.

An IBA press conference in Paris on Monday was set up to clarify what tests Khelif and Lin underwent last year, and what the results showed, but the outcome muddied the landscape even further when its officials, including president Kremlev via a remote and chaotic video call, gave a series of inflammatory statements to a room packed with of reporters, as well as audience members rooting for Algeria’s Khelif.

“We have genetic tests showing that these are men. We have not checked what’s between their legs. There are doctors and medics who can verify these things. We don’t know whether they were born like that or changes were made,” Kremlev said.

The IBA president went on to say that "I wasn’t present when she (Khelif) was born in the Algerian maternity. We saw no papers of a maternity house or deep checks of their bodies. If I was accused of this, I would bring over all the documents and go through all checks to prove I am a real man.”

The Algerian Olympic and Sports Committee did not hold back and quickly clarified that it is no longer a member of the international federation. "We do not recognise the IBA as a legitimate institution, and it has no connection with the Olympic Games. Our champion, Imane Khelif, remains untouched and undeterred by the baseless claims of the IBA," it said in a statement.

Through spokesman Mark Adams during the weekend, the IOC had accused the IBA of making "an arbitrary decision" over disqualifying the duo in 2023 and deemed the federation untrustworthy. The IBA argues that the IOC allowed Khelif and Lin to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where they did not win medals, and is reluctant to walk back on its original stance, leading to the current gender row.

"The content and the organisation of the IBA press conference tells you everything that you need to know about this organisation and its credibility," the IOC told reporters after the media event.

The IBA officials, which included secretary general Chris Roberts, argued that they were constrained by medical confidentiality. “I’m not a scientist but male boxers have boxed as female boxers in the past. We have global rules so we can only follow those,” he stated, pointing out that the two test results from Delhi and the 2022 Istanbul championship were conclusive enough for the IBA but that he had “received letters today from various NOCs saying we can’t announce the results”.

As for the Khelif-Carini fight, Roberts labelled it “a disaster” insisting that “it was disappointing for both boxers.”

Khelif is set to compete in the 66kg semi-finals against Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannaphengon on Tuesday while Lin will face Turkey's Esra Yildiz Kahraman on Wednesday in the 57kg semis.