Caitlin Parker believes the Olympics' approval of two boxers who had failed past gender eligibility tests is "incredibly dangerous" ahead of a potential showdown between one of the boxers in question and one of her teammates in Paris.
Australian boxing captain Parker led from the front on Wednesday, dominating Mexico's Vanessa Ortiz with a unanimous points decision to reach the quarter-finals of the 75kg division.
It followed an earlier loss for Shannan Davey to Bulgaria's Rami Mofid, with Charlie Senior still to fight later in the day.
Marissa Williamson will make her Olympic debut on Wednesday in a women's 66kg division now in the spotlight after the International Olympic Committee confirmed two boxers who were disqualified from the world championships last year for failing gender eligibility tests will be allowed to fight in Paris.
Imane Khelif (66kg) of Algeria and Taiwan's Lin Yu‑ting (57kg) were both due to get medals at the 2023 worlds in New Delhi, until being disqualified by the International Boxing Association. The IBA has no part in running Olympic boxing in a fallout from a years-long dispute with the IOC.
The IBA claimed the boxers' chromosome tests came back as XY, which is typically the male chromosome, rather than a female's XX.
The IOC is in charge of Paris's boxing program and have instructed the sport to find a new sanctioning body by early next year to ensure the future of the sport in the Games.
Williamson and Khelif will meet in the quarterfinals if they both win on Wednesday.
"I don't agree with them being allowed to compete in sport, especially combat sports," Parker said.
"It can be incredibly dangerous. I don't agree with it.
"It's not like I haven't sparred men before. But you know it can be dangerous for combat sports and it should be seriously looked into."
"I really hope the organisations get their act together so that boxing can continue to be at the Olympics.
"It's the oldest Olympic sport. Women's boxing was only introduced in 2012 and I want to see it for the next 100, 200 years to come."
Australian boxing coach Santiago Nieva said there would be no complaints if the pair met in the ring.
"She was disqualified, but I have not seen her fail any gender test," he said.
"The IOC said they are matching the criteria from the IOC so that's the only thing you can go by.
"We fought her two months ago. She's good, she's tough, she's strong, but I wasn't under the impression we were fighting a man.
"We are prepared to fight anyone in front of us here.
"I understand this issue is not as black and white as many people want to make it.
"We don't have all the information so I don't want to speculate on that. We have competed against them before, we have fought them before. We are ready to do that again and beat them."
The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday defended the right of the two athletes to compete in women's boxing.
"Everyone competing in the women's category is complying with the competition eligibility rules," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Tuesday at the daily news conference by organizers of the Paris Olympics.
"They are women in their passports and it's stated that this is the case, that they are female," Adams said.
Paris Olympics boxing is being run by officials appointed by the IOC, which said Monday it is using rule books based on the version that applied at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
"They are eligible by the rules of the federation which was set in 2016, and which worked for Tokyo too," Adams said.
"To compete as women, which is what they are. And we fully support that."
The 28-year-old Lin won her first world title in 2018 and was a youth world champion in 2013, according to an IBA profile. In 2021, Khelif was a quarterfinalist at the Tokyo Olympics, losing to eventual champion Kellie Harrington of Ireland.
"These athletes have competed many times before for many years. They haven't just suddenly arrived," Adams said.
Since the Tokyo Olympics, sports bodies including World Aquatics, World Athletics and the International Cycling Union have updated their gender rules. They now ban athletes who went through male puberty from competing in women's events.
The track body also last year tightened rules on athletes with differences in sex development (DSD). They include two-time Olympic 800-meter champion Caster Semenya, who has not run in that event since 2019.
The IOC gave those governing bodies guidance in 2021 without imposing rules, in what Adams said Tuesday is an "incredibly complex" subject for experts in each Olympic sport to assess.