Sebastian Coe has vowed to ‘protect the female category’ in women’s sport amid his push to replace Thomas Bach as International Olympic Committee president. 

Lord Coe, president of World Athletics, fears that ‘no woman will ever win another sporting event’ if somebody does not step in to protect them.

His comments come after the gender row over Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting‘s gold medals in the women’s Olympic boxing.

Both have insisted they were born female and neither has ever identified otherwise, but last year they were disqualified from the World Boxing Championship by the IBA for failing a gender test.

‘I can’t really sit here having a glass ceiling where there are female athletes coming into our sport who know that there will be a point beyond which biology is going to determine the outcome of what they do,’ Coe told ITV.

Sebastian Coe has vowed to ‘protect the women’s category amid his push to be IOC president

His promise comes after Imane Khelif (pictured) and Lin Yu-ting took boxing gold in Paris

The two fighters (Li pictured) were caught in a gender row, having been disqualified from the World Boxing Champions last year due to ‘failing a gender test’

‘It’s very simple for me: have a policy, stick to it, communicate it, and don’t get distracted by dissenting voices.’

He added: ‘Sometimes you just have to stick a stake in the ground and say: “This far, and no further,” and the decision we made at World Athletics was pretty clear-cut.

‘I’m elected to do some pretty serious things and one of them is the preservation of the female category, because if you don’t do that, then no woman will ever win another sporting event and I take that quite seriously.

‘I come from a sport where we are a 50-50 sport. Female athletes, as you’ve seen here, are box-office. In fact, there have been some periods in the sport where they have actually carried the sport.’

He also told The Telegraph: ‘You have to have a clear policy. If you don’t, you get into difficult territory – and I think that’s what we’ve witnessed here. The reality is very simple: I have a responsibility to preserve the female category, and I will go on doing that until a successor decides otherwise or the science alters.’

After winning gold in the welterweight category by dismantling China’s Yang Liu, Algerian boxer Khelif issued a defiant statement.

‘I am fully qualified,’ she said. ‘I am a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived as a woman, I competed as woman – there is no doubt.’

However, her coach, Georges Cazorla, has confirmed that the IBA tests identified ‘a problem with hormones’ and ‘with chromosomes‘, suggesting that she may have the XY gender chromosomes typical of a man.

Khelif insisted she was ‘born a woman’ and has ‘lived as a woman’ after winning the title

Khelif’s coach Georges Cazorla has admitted that it was a ‘problem with hormones’ and ‘with chromosomes’ that led to her previously being banned from women’s competition

Lin (left) branded the IBA’s gender test – which purportedly found male DNA – as ‘false’

Lin has felt personally targeted by the IBA but said she would not ‘cater to your stereotypes’

‘This poor young girl was devastated, devastated to suddenly discover that she might not be a girl,’ he told French magazine Le Point.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Olympics, Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting slammed the IBA test as ‘false’ and claimed people only questioned her sex because of her appearance.

‘It’s probably because of my height and hairstyle,’ she said. ‘You can say what you want to say, but I can also decide what I want to do. I don’t have to cater to your stereotypes.’

Last year, the International Boxing Association (IBA) disqualified both from the World Championship but did not expand on their reasoning.

However, in an explosive press conference in Paris, the organisation’s Russian chief, Umar Kremlev, scolded both as ‘men’.

The IBA – discredited by the International Olympic Committee – claimed Lin had male XY chromosomes and that two blood tests indicated she was a man.

‘We don’t verify what they have between their legs. We don’t know if they were born like that, or if some changes were made,’ said Kremlev, insisting they had done two tests. ‘The second tests confirmed the first tests. If people have doubts, refer to them. They can make their own tests.’

Olympic organisers branded the IBA’s testing ‘so flawed that it’s impossible to engage with it,’ but the IOC does not run any gender tests of their own, simply going off athletes’ passports.

The International Boxing Association (IBA) held a bizarre press conference on Monday where they further called into question the eligibility of Lin and Imane Khelif

Thomas Bach signalled his intention to step aside as IOC president after 11 years

Coe, who claimed won back-to-back Olympic titles over 1500m and two silvers at 800m, has thrown his hat in the ring to oversee such a process as the IOC’s president after Bach announced he will leave.

‘I have always made it clear that if the opportunity arose, then I will give it serious thought,’ the 67-year-old said.

‘The opportunity has arisen and clearly I need to think about it. Of course I am going to consider it.

‘I have been involved in the Olympic movement for the larger part of my life.

‘I have chaired an Olympic Games from bid to delivery and two years of legacy after that. I have been privileged to compete in two Olympic Games.

‘I have chaired a national Olympic committee, and I now have the best job in the world as president of the No1 Olympic sport.