Olympics-Paris Games gender row was product of Russian fake news campaign-IOC's Bach

By Karolos Grohmann

PYLOS, Greece (Reuters) - A gender row involving two female boxers at the Paris 2024 Olympics was the result of a Russian fake news campaign and had little to do with reality, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said on Saturday.

Bach, who is stepping down in June after 12 years in charge of the biggest job in world sports, said the IOC had needed to fight off many similar campaigns before and after the Paris Games. 

The boxing competition at the Paris Games was run by the IOC after it stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of recognition last year over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance.

But the IBA, run by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev with close links to the Kremlin, accused the IOC during Paris of allowing two female athletes, who had been banned by the IBA following a chromosome test a year earlier, to compete. 

A bitter war of words ensued between the two organisations and hogged the headlines during the Games.

"I would not consider this (Paris Games gender row) a real crisis because all this discussion is based on a fake news campaign coming from Russia," Bach told Reuters in an interview at the southern Greek seaside resort where his successor will be elected on Thursday.

"This was part of the many, many fake news campaigns we had to face from Russia before Paris and after Paris, " he said.

Several such campaigns happened before Paris, including what the IOC said at the time were repeated hacking attempts, as well as a prank call by a Russian group targeting Bach and pretending to be African Union Commission representatives.

Bach said the dispute over the boxers would have been a non-issue were it not for the IBA, given the two boxers had competed for years, including at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, with no problems.

"It (the dispute) has nothing to do with the reality. These two female focuses were born as women, they were raised as women, they have been competing as women, they have been winning and losing as every other person."

The IOC does not have a universal rule on the participation of transgender athletes or athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD), with each federation drawing up its own regulations.

Russian athletes competed as neutrals in Paris after the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended for conducting Olympic elections in Ukrainian territories occupied following the Russian invasion in 2022.

TRUMP SUPPORT

Bach also said he had no concerns about the preparation of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, calling U.S. President Donald Trump a strong supporter and promoter of the project.

"Let the organising committee... continue to work with President Trump and his administration because they have established very good relations," Bach said when asked what his advice to his successor would be regarding the LA Olympics and Trump.

"The IOC should have confidence in their American partners and friends, and confidence that President Trump from the beginning was a strong supporter and promoter of the Olympic Games."

Bach also said the sport of boxing, which had not been included in the initial LA 2028 programme due to the problems with the IBA, could soon get positive news regarding its inclusion.

In February, the IOC provisionally recognised World Boxing as the new global body for the sport, paving the way for the sport's inclusion in Los Angeles.

"I hope (the provisional recognition of World Boxing) will mean in very short term a very positive signal," Bach said.

"I hope very much during these days here in Greece (during the IOC session) we can come to a decision."    

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Clare Fallon)