- Two boxers have been cleared to compete as women in the Olympic Games
- The boxers in question are Imane Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting from Taiwan
- Former athletes have now joined the debate over their participation
Two boxers, who were banned from the world championships because they were biologically male, will now be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games as women.
A stir broke out in Paris after it emerged that Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan were disqualified from last year’s tournament over questions about their biological gender.
Now a former Olympian claims gender ideology will “drive women to their DEATH”, while Northern Irish athlete Barry McGuigan described the situation as “shocking”.
According to IOC bosses, both boxers meet the eligibility criteria and will box in the coming days.
The duo were disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi in March 2023 after a series of DNA tests were ordered over concerns about the gender of some of the participants.
Imane Khelif (pictured) of Algeria is one of two boxers who has been allowed to compete as a woman at the Olympic Games, despite being banned from the world championships.
Lin Yu-Ting from Taiwan (left) will compete with Khelif at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer
Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association, had previously claimed that tests had shown the athletes had ‘XY chromosomes’
At the time, International Boxing Association (IBA) president Umar Kremlev claimed that the tests had proven that the athletes – including Khelif and Yu-Ting, who are both due to fight later this week – had “XY chromosomes”. He added that they had “discovered athletes who tried to fool their colleagues and pretended to be women”.
However, the IBA has been stripped of its right to host Olympic boxing events due to concerns about governance. The IOC has said that all athletes involved should be allowed to compete, while the current rules are considered more lenient than those of the IBA.
After last year’s ban, the Algerian Olympic Committee responded, claiming the disqualification was part of a “conspiracy” to prevent them from winning a gold medal. They said there were “medical reasons” behind the high testosterone levels.
Following the disqualification, Mexico’s Brianda Tamara came forward with her own experiences during a fight with Khelif earlier in the tournament.
“When I fought her, I felt completely out of my mind,” she wrote on X. “Her punches hurt me so much, I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way in my 13 years as a boxer, or in my sparring with men. Thank God I got out of the ring safely that day, and it’s good that they finally realized it.”
But Khelif, a welterweight, will face Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday, while Yu-Ting, a featherweight, is in action on Friday.
According to feminist website Reduxx, both sexes are thought to suffer from difference in sex development (DSD), a set of medical conditions diagnosed at birth in which the genitals are atypical in relation to chromosomes.
McGuigan is among those questioning the situation. “It’s shocking that they’ve been allowed to get to this point, what’s going on?” he wrote on X.
The Algerian Olympic Committee previously claimed that Khelif’s disqualification was part of a “conspiracy” to prevent them from winning a gold medal
Former US Olympic athlete Nancy Hogshead said ‘gender ideology will drive women to DEATH’
Elsewhere, Nancy Hogshead, the American swimmer who won three golds at the 1984 Games, weighed in, claiming that “gender ideology will DEATH women.”
Hogshead wrote: ‘Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan are scheduled to compete in women’s Olympic boxing – despite being disqualified last year for having XY chromosomes, the male phenotype. Let’s remind ourselves that men – no matter how they identify – pack a punch that is 162 percent more powerful than women – THE single largest performance gap between men and women. Gender ideology will KILL women.’
An X user added: ‘Men hitting women is now officially an Olympic sport’.
An IOC spokesman said: ‘All athletes participating in the boxing tournament will adhere to the competition’s eligibility and participation regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations, in accordance with the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit.’