Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was not allowed to compete at the Women's World Boxing Championships last year, failing to meet the "eligibility requirements" for taking part in the women's event. Despite self-identifying as a female and with nothing to suggest she has ever been anything but, the International Boxing Association was unwilling to reveal why she had been disallowed. Turns out Khelif tested positive for high levels of testosterone, and at the time, the IBA misled about a testosterone examination. They fell back on the statement she was "subject to a separate and recognized test", but declined to reveal the exact nature of the test. In other words, while Khelif self-identifies as female and there is no evidence she has been anything but since birth, there is medical evidence that she remains more masculine than the rules state should be allowed for a women's competition. It's not her fault.
Which is why there is outrage at Khelif's participation at the Paris Olympics, furor over her second bout of the competition against Italian Angela Carini, and why Carini herself quit the match only 46 seconds in on Thursday.
We are once again at the crossroads of the debate as to whether women's sports should be reserved solely for those who were born and assigned female at birth, those who can genetically prove their gender, or include those who have undergone a medical transformation to female.
Despite the cries of the far Right and those who strain for attention using lies and propaganda, Khelif is neither transgender or intersex. Anyone who claims, writes, bellows or posts an idiotic meme to the contrary is a liar. There is no evidence whatsoever to contradict her life as a female.
Mental midgets the likes of alleged boxer Jake Paul were quick to drive this contrived contoversy, filling their airwaves with suppositions and ill-educate opinion. Turns out even this knucklehead had to finally admit he was just one of those fanning flames of ignorance, though by that time the virulent hate had gone worldwide. "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, who is a seething cauldron of hate against anything transgender was, of course, among those spreading lies and misinformed nonsense.
Think for a moment on where she was born, a close-minded country the likes of Algeria, and how anyone of an alternative sex or belief of any kind counter to the State is treated and often violently dispatched.
Her participation at these Olympics begs for context and explanation.
Khelif was allowed to compete this year because IOC regulations allow the admission of athletes with gender diversity and DSDs (differences of sexual development). The acronym DSD denotes a group of uncommon conditions connected to a person's estrogens, genes, and reproductive organs. Some people with DSD are brought up in a feminine manner. Moreover, they have male-like blood testosterone levels, their bodies' capacity to use testosterone and XY chromosomes, which are typically present in individuals who are cisgender male (a person declared as male by birth).
As opposed to this, a cisgender female (i.e., assigned female at birth) has XX chromosomes and substantially lower testosterone levels. When compared to cisgender women, cisgender men go through male puberty and typically have an advantage when it comes to muscle mass, faster twitch muscle, and skeletal structure.
In simpler terms, Khelif is a female with a medical condition that while complicated, is allowed under IOC rules, and those rules of other sports organizations. Which is where it becomes difficult for most people to understand and instantly controversial in a world where fomenting hate and violence against the LGBTQ+ community has become a career for many of the ill-educated.
At issue here is the medical definition of what it is to be male or female, and the lack of control anyone has over what Mother Nature has decided. Certainly, drugs and surgeries can alter gender and appearance. Such is not the case with Khelif, who was born female, raised female, competed in sport as a female, and is forced to live with her condition.
The real battle here is between the International Boxing Association (IBA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), dodgy and often misleading testing by the IBA and the more deliberate rules and regulations of the IOC. While Khelif was dropped from past IBA competitions, there are plenty of questions as to what was actually behind the banning and what mysterious tests were conducted. This is a territorial and political spitting match between the IBA and the IOC, as the IBA is not in control of what occurs in Paris. The IOC makes the call.
This should not be about hate or fear. This should not have turned into a denigration of LGBTQ+ athletes, or anyone of any sexual orientation. Unfortunately, that's exactly what it's become thanks to the scurrying vermin on the far political Right who will take advantage of any opportunity to smear someone, anyone, over their lifestyles, be they an act of Mother Nature or decided upon medically.
Khelif has competed in women's boxing for years, including the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. There was no great furor then, but in our current society rife with political, religious and alternative lifestyle hate from those with nothing better to do than spew disinformation for the purpose of being able to crow on social media, this level of discourse and derision is more the norm than the exception.
Lost in all this is reaction to Angela Carini's decision to quit the match against Khelif after being decked by a couple of hard shots. Her crying and wailing getting beat up in a contact sport where the object is to beat the other person up made for tear-dropping sympathy from those looking for an excuse. These are the Olympic Games, and she quit in front of the world. I've been intimately involved in boxing for decades, and already heard from a number of colleagues and former fighters who said she needed to "butch up", as one person noted, get in the fight and never surrender.
Note to Carini: You want to play lumberjack, learn to handle your end of the log. This isn't a sport where feathers are tossed, and you know it. On this day, you were unable to fend off the better fighter, and you quit instead of staying in the bout. "No Mas" is a bad way to go out. Just ask Roberto Duran.
All those screeching about how extra testosterone gives Khelif an "unfair advantage" never looked at her record inside the ring. With all that "power", she should be undefeated. Instead, she is a rather pedestrian 42-9, even being beaten in the first round of some fights. Beaten by other women, I might add.
Neither Khelif nor Algerian sport has ever tried to cover up who she is. She is a woman with a specific medical condition that is known and still trying to be understood in both medical and social circles. It is one that under the governing rules of the IOC she is allowed to compete.
She is, in the end, the person she was born to be. And that should never be the reason for such despicable hate and fear.
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