This story was originally published in WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won her first bout of the Paris 2024 Olympics when her opponent, Italy’s Angela Carini, retired after being hit in the face several times in the opening seconds of the fight. The victory only fueled the misguided controversy surrounding Khelif, who has been the target of critics who have treated her badly during the Games.
Born in 1999 in Tiaret, Algeria, Khelif has been boxing since she was a child and has always competed in the women’s category. In her career, she competed at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi in 2018 (placed 17th), then competed in Russia the following year. She competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals, and finished second at the 2022 Women’s World Championships in Istanbul.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly until the 2023 World Cup, organised by the International Boxing Association. The IBA, which is led by Russia and not recognised by the International Olympic Committee, disqualified Khelif after a gender eligibility test allegedly revealed she had XY chromosomes. IBA president Umar Kremlev has said that both Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, who allegedly had a similar test result, “were trying to deceive their colleagues and pass themselves off as women”. Khelif has refuted the allegations.
The Olympic Games controversy
Both Khelif and Lin were admitted to the Olympic boxing competitions. The admission rules in this case are managed by the so-called Boxing Unit, which has been responsible for ensuring that all athletes participating in the boxing tournament at the Games comply with the eligibility and registration rules for the competition, as well as all medical regulations, which also includes the submission of duly stamped and verified medical certificates at least three months before the start of the competitions.
“These boxers are completely eligible. They are women on their passports, they are women who have competed at the Tokyo Olympics and have been competing for many years. I think we all have a responsibility to tone it down and not turn it into a witch hunt,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Still, prominent figures on social media criticized Khelif’s participation in the Games. X owner Elon Musk amplified a tweet from swimmer Riley Gaines that said “men don’t belong in women’s sports,” while author J.K. Rowling falsely referred to Khelif as “a man who knows he’s protected by a misogynistic sporting establishment who takes pleasure in the distress of a woman he just punched over the head.”
The fact is that Khelif is participating in the Games because the rules allow him to and he has exceeded the IOC’s standards. “The current aggression against these two athletes is entirely based on this arbitrary decision,” the Boxing Unit and the IOC said in a statement on Thursday, referring to the IBA ban. “(It) was taken without any proper procedure, especially considering that these athletes had been competing in high-level competitions for many years. Such an approach is contrary to good governance.”
The controversies of recent days have taken serious topics like hyperandrogyny (the excessive production of testosterone by female bodies) and intersexuality (in which someone is born with sexual characteristics that don’t fit neatly into traditional definitions of male and female) and debased them. They have then further poisoned an already very sensitive debate around sexuality. Participation of transgender women in the Olympic Games and sports competitions in general.
But, beyond all this, the fact remains that Imane Khelif has always defined herself as a woman and the IOC allows her to participate in the Olympic Games as such. Even in the face of aggressive public opinion, there is nothing to add.