Laura Woods reveals death threats and abuse she’s received over boxing gender eligibility row

Laura Woods has revealed she has received death threats over her response to an article on the gender eligibility debate surrounding Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif.

Khelif, who has won 47 of her 56 fights at amateur level, won the gold medal in the women’s welterweight category at Paris 2024.

The controversy surrounding Algerian boxer Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting – who also won gold in her respective category – began when both boxers were banned from the Women’s World Championships last year.

The International Boxing Association (IBA) – who ran the World Championships – said both fighters failed unspecified gender eligibility tests.

Its president claimed that a test administered on Khelif showed elevated testosterone levels – though the body previously stated that she was not subjected to a testosterone exam but instead went through a different, confidential test.

The IBA was suspended in 2019 due to finance, governance and integrity concerns, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) having assumed control of Olympic boxing since the Tokyo Games.

Both were allowed to compete in Paris by the IOC, who have less stringent restrictions when it comes to testing.

IOC president Thomas Bach has repeatedly defended the two fighters – who were both born as women and are registered as women on their passports – and told reporters at a pre-Olympic briefing: “Let’s be very clear – we are talking about women’s boxing.

“We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman.

“This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.”

Since winning the gold in Paris, Khelif has initiated legal proceedings with the French authorities over allegations of ‘acts of aggravated cyber harassment’.

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The owner of Twitter (now known as X) Elon Musk and author JK Rowling are both named in the lawsuit, as per Variety.

Earlier this week, an analytical article surrounding the debate was published by The Telegraph’s Oliver Brown.

He claimed that the decision to allow Khelif and Lin to compete ‘seemed indefensible’, and argued that the IOC’s decision not to accept the IBA’s findings – they instead did tests of their own – was ‘purely political’.

Brown also accused the IOC of ‘not wanting to listen’ over the debate.

In response to the article, Woods replied on Tuesday by stating: “Great article Oli.”

After several replies to other users, the TNT Sports and ITV presenter next tweeted on Thursday – and claimed she had received death threats and calls for her to be sacked.

She wrote: “Since I replied to this article I’ve had numerous death threats to myself and my unborn child.

“Questions on my own gender (I’m pregnant so guess that clears that one up), calls for my employers to sack me, threats to my home.

“I’ve been called a racist, a bigot and a sexist as well as various insults – c**t, s**g etc.

Twitter/@laura_woodsy

“I’ve also been asked why I haven’t raised any concerns on this topic before? See above for your answer.”