The IOC was warned.

A Hungarian sports official has come out and stated that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is not female. István Kovács, the European Vice President of the World Boxing Organization and former Secretary General of the International Boxing Association, told Hungarian press that he had warned the International Olympic Committee about males participating in women’s boxing as early as 2022, but that nothing was done.

In a shocking statement made to Magyar Nemzet yesterday, Kovács confirmed the speculation surrounding the Algerian boxer, adding that it had been known as early as 2022 that Khelif was biologically male.

You’d think two years would be enough to come to terms with the news and then act on it.

“The problem was not with the level of Khelif’s testosterone, because that can be adjusted nowadays, but with the result of the gender test, which clearly revealed that the Algerian boxer is biologically male,” Kovács said in an interview with Magyar Nemzet, adding that a total of five boxers had been examined including Khelif by the International Boxing Association, and all of them “were indeed men.”

Kovács asserted that he personally reported the shocking result immediately to the International Olympics Committee, “but as unbelievable as it is, they have not responded to this to this day.” The retired world champion boxer also commented that he recently spoke with former women’s world champion Mária Kovács, who bitterly remarked that in modern women’s boxing, “there is a 20 percent chance that one of the athletes will suffer a testicular injury.”

It’s afternoon in Paris so I suppose we’ll know soon.

Kovács added that he was actively discouraging Hungary’s Anna Luca Hámori from going ahead with her Olympic match against Khelif, which is set to take place on August 3. While Kovács said that he didn’t believe Khelif was a particularly good boxer, he expressed concerns that Hámori had not been properly trained to fight a male opponent.

“The biggest problem is that Hámori can only realize her big dream of winning a medal at the summer games at the first Olympics of her life if she beats a man. She was simply not trained for this,” Kovács said.

Here’s hoping she escapes injury.