The controversy surrounding Olympic boxer Imane Khelif was amplified tonight after she emphatically defeated a Thai woman and advanced to the final.
There have been calls for 25-year-old Khelif, 1.78m tall and now one win away from Olympic gold, to be banned from competing over a suggestion she might not be biologically female.
She is not transgender (there are childhood photos of her as a child) and Olympic organizers say the Algerian passed all gender eligibility checks.
However, Khelif was disqualified from last year’s World Championships by the Russian governing body IBA after failing a gender test shortly before she was due to challenge for a gold medal.
Some health experts believe he has a disorder of differences in sex development (DSD), an umbrella term for people who have a group of conditions in which their reproductive anatomy doesn’t match the typical definition of male or female.
Khelif denies it.
DailyMail.com spoke to two women born with DSDs (as well as doctors) about whether they think Khelif has an unfair advantage over her female opponents.
Imane Khelif pictured celebrating her victory over Thai boxer Janjaem Suwannapheng today
Khelif faces controversy over her candidacy in women’s boxing
Hannah Twigg is an intersex woman from the UK who suffers from a condition called complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS).
This means that even though she has the XY chromosomes of a man, her body does not respond to testosterone due to a genetic mutation.
As a result, he has developed female traits, because testosterone has no effect on his sexual development.
Ms Twigg said: ‘I was very involved in sports teams in high school, playing on sports teams.
“But I never felt like my condition gave me an advantage or disadvantage in the sport.”
She added: “I would like to take this opportunity to say that Imane Khelif does not owe anyone an explanation about her gender and identity.”
Because testosterone is not acting in his body, this means that he has not experienced the increase in muscle mass that men experience during puberty.
After puberty, men have 40 to 50 percent more muscle mass than women.
However, some experts suggest that Khelif may have a different condition, called 5-alpha-reductase deficiency (5-ARD).
In this case, an individual is biologically male (with XY chromosomes), but his or her body fails to respond to a crucial hormone in utero, leading to the development of a vagina or externally indeterminate sexual organs.
Internally, however, they have undescended testicles, which begin releasing testosterone when someone reaches puberty, leading to the development of masculine characteristics, including increased muscle mass.
Previously, South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya had been diagnosed with the disease, leading to her being banned from track events due to her elevated testosterone levels.
It is estimated that between one and two in every 100 people in the US are born intersex or with DSD.
Intersex women have defended Khelif, saying she should be allowed to compete in her category because she is a woman. Pictured left is Alyssa Ball, a community activist who is intersex, and on the right is Hannah Twigg, an intersex woman from the UK who aims to raise awareness of the condition.
Khelif was forced to speak out and ask boxing fans to refrain from bullying athletes earlier this week.
Khelif, who was born as a woman, has been at the centre of a gender-based row after the IBA disqualified her from the World Championships last year. She is pictured at the Paris Olympics
Alyssa Ball, who is also intersex and raises awareness about the condition, told DailyMail.com: ‘I feel quite emotionally drained talking about the issue at hand.
‘As an intersex person, I of course think she should be allowed to compete.
‘Any “advantage” I may have is comparable to that of any other person who was born with a more advantageous physical constitution for any sport.’
However, Dr Tommy Lundberg, a professor of physiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, disagreed, saying she probably had a biological advantage because she had likely gone through male puberty.
He said: ‘If Khelif has 5-ARD, then that is considered male development during puberty and therefore an advantage.
‘Being a man is not a talent and should not be rewarded more than being a woman.
‘The inclusion of athletes with male performance advantages in women’s sport is a violation of the very important principles of fair and safe competition for female athletes.’
In tonight’s fight, Khelif defeated her competitor Janjaem Suwannapheng after dominating the brave opponent and landing stronger blows, before taking victory with a unanimous verdict.
The rules on testosterone limits had previously been highlighted by Caster Semenya, who was banned from competing in women’s track events after it was revealed she had elevated testosterone levels.
The raucous Algerian crowd cheered her and chanted “Imane” before their boxer entered the arena.
After winning, she did victory laps around the arena before leaving to more cheers, ahead of her gold medal fight on Friday.
Fiona McAnena, who works with scientists researching sex differences and is director of the UK-based women’s sports charity Sex Matters, also said she probably had an advantage.
She said: “It is not the fault of these young people that they have a congenital (developmental) disorder and are registered as female when their chromosomes are male. It can be shocking, surprising and even traumatic to discover this.
‘But all that aside, women’s sport is designed for people who have a feminine advantage, not a masculine one.
‘If female competitors have a male advantage and have gone through male puberty, then they don’t belong in women’s sport.’
Khelif’s condition is not public, leaving experts only able to speculate on whether or not he may have a condition and, if so, what.
But a recent change in the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) statement suggests she may be intersex.
On August 3, they updated a statement from saying ‘this is not a case of Differences of Sex Development’ to ‘this is not a case of transgender people.’
Khelif, for her part, has said that she is a woman and has pledged to continue competing.
In a statement, she said: ‘I address my message to all peoples of the world to adhere to the Olympic principles, in accordance with the Olympic Charter, and to avoid harassment of all athletes, because this has a great impact.
“It is capable of destroying people, killing people’s thoughts and minds, and dividing people.”
She previously dismissed the decision to ban her from the IBA competition as a “conspiracy” to prevent an Algerian from winning.
Khelif’s home country of Algeria has strong anti-LGBT laws and its society is intolerant of transgender people.
The IOC interprets a person’s gender based on what is written in their passport.
They are also hosting the women’s boxing competition amid a separate dispute with the IBA, which has been banned from participating.
However, in other categories, such as swimming, the association reserves the right to test athletes when there is concern they may have a biological advantage.
Experts suggest the same could be done in boxing, saying that whether someone has gone through male puberty can be determined by a blood test, which can detect higher levels of testosterone.
