“Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination,” the Olympic committee asserted inan official statementreleased on Thursday (August 1).
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Image credits:Eurosport
Whilebacklash was unveiled regarding the International Boxing Association (IBA)’s regulations being dismissedwhen it came to allowing alleged ineligible athletes to compete, the Committee reminded the public that its Tokyo 2020 rules were based on the post-Rio 2016 rules.
TheIOC suspended the IBAin 2019 and eventually withdrew its recognition in 2023 as a result of longstanding concerns about its governance and management.
These included allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement, which led to a lack of confidence in the organization’s ability to oversee the sport effectively.
The IBA’s judging and refereeing standards in boxing had beencontroversial, particularly during the Rio 2016 Olympics, where there were numerous allegations of biased and unfair judging.
Moreover, the IBA faced significant financial difficulties, including large debts. This financial instability was a major concern for the IOC, as it threatened the organization’s ability to function and support the sport at the Olympic level.
The new elucidation follows the dangerous misinformation that has been circulating about the athlete
Despite multiple warnings and the IOC’s demands for reforms, the IBA failed to implement necessary changes to address these issues adequately. The organization’s inability or unwillingness to reform further strained its relationship with the IOC.
“Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
I need someone to explain to me like I’m 5 years old.
It was confirmed that is she born a biological woman but testing showed elevated levels of testosterone. If we are saying elevated levels of testosterone makes you a biological man, does that mean ‘women’ who suffer from…https://t.co/2fjLqeKhGS
— Lateef (@LateefSaka)August 1, 2024
“The IBA Board only ratified it afterward and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations,” the Committee explained. “The minutes also say that the IBA should ‘establish a clear procedure on gender testing.’”
The IOC concluded: “The currentaggressionagainst these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.
This follows Italian boxer Angela Carini abandoning facing Imane just 46 seconds into their fight
Image credits:DD_Geopolitics
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting are the two athletes who have been cleared to compete in women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics but facedbigoted backlashafter being stripped of titles and disqualified from the IBA.
The IBA stripped Lin of her World Championships bronze medal in the March 2023 event after failing a gender eligibility test, and it also disqualified Imane in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
No further details were given on why the boxers were disqualified from last year’s World Championships, theBBCreported on Tuesday (July 30).
People would rather spread misinformation instead of simply doing cursory research. The way these grifters and concern trolls are acting, you’d think Imane Khelif was just Mike Tysoning dainty women left and right.
She has NINE losses. She was in the last Olympics and didn’t win…pic.twitter.com/iPvPpzt5CG
— Ibou, of WrestlePurists (@BackupHangman)August 1, 2024
“These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven’t just suddenly arrived – they competed in Tokyo,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said on Tuesday.
He added: “The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
“In the end, the experts for each sport are the people who work in that.
“If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level.”
Image credits:imane_khelif_10
Controversy erupted on Thursday after Italy’s Angela Carini quit just 46 seconds into her round-of-16 bout with Imane after the Algerian landed the first clean punch of the fight.
Angela immediately turned to her team and opted against continuing, and the Italian soon collapsed to her knees in tears,The Independentreported on Friday (August 2).
The 25-year-old Italian could reportedly be heard telling her coach, “It’s not right, it’s not right,” and she later told reporters that she had never been hit so hard in her career.
Angela subsequently refused to shake Imane’s hand after she was announced as the winner in Paris.
‼️ OOPSIES ‼️
I might be guilty of spreading misinformation along with the entirety of this app
Although she’s been previously disqualified for failing a “gender test” and has XY chromosomes, some sources say Imane Khelif was born a biological woman
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul)August 1, 2024
The moment quickly turned viral on social media, withnotable transphobic figuresusing Angela’s loss as an example of “trans people hijacking women’s sports.”
J.K Rowling, known to spread misinformation on trans issues, called the 25-year-old athlete a “man” on X (formerly known as Twitter) despite the fact that Imane was born a woman and has never identified as anything other than a cisgender woman.
Famous YouTuberLogan Paulissued an apology on Thursday after calling the fight between Angela and Imane “The purest form of evil unfolding right before our eyes.”
At the time, he also misgendered the Algerian athlete, writing: “A man was allowed to beat up a woman on a global stage, crushing her life’s dream while fighting for her deceased father.
“This delusion must end.”
Image credits:luca_hamori
Upon learning that Imane had never been assigned male at birth and has never identified as a man, the 29-year-old internet star wrote onX: “I might be guilty of spreading misinformation along with the entirety of this app.
“Although she’s been previously disqualified for failing a ‘gender test’ and has XY chromosomes, some sources say Imane Khelif was born a biological woman.
Although there is no evidence to suggest that Imane was born anything other than a cisgender woman, and the IBA has not released more details about the tests she has failed, there have been many misconceptions circulating about identities and sex following Imane’s fight against Angela.
Sex can be much more complicated than it first seems,Scientific Americanwrote in 2018. According to the simple scenario, the presence or absence of a Y chromosome is what counts: with it, you are male, and without it, you are female.
But doctors have long known that some people straddle the boundary—their sex chromosomes say one thing, but their gonads (ovaries or testes) or sexual anatomy say another, the outlet reported.
These kinds of conditions are known as intersex conditions or differences or disorders of sex development (DSDs).
When genetics is taken into consideration, the boundary between the sexes becomes even blurrier.
Irish boxing champion Amy Broadhurst, who beat Imane in 2022, defended the Algerian athlete on social media
Image credits:amybroadhurst12
Scientistshave reportedly identified many of the genes involved in the main forms of DSD and have uncovered variations in these genes that have subtle effects on a person’s anatomical or physiological sex.
What’s more, new technologies in DNA sequencing and cell biology are revealing that almost everyone is, to varying degrees, a patchwork of genetically distinct cells, some with a sex that might not match that of the rest of their body,Scientific American stated.
Some studies even suggest that the sex of each cell drives its behavior through a complicated network of molecular interactions.
“I think there’s much greater diversity within male or female, and there is certainly an area of overlap where some people can’t easily define themselves within the binary structure,” John Achermann, who studies sex development and endocrinology at University College London’s Institute of Child Health, said.
Image credits:Irish Athletic Boxing Association
Irish boxing champion Amy Broadhurst, who beat Imane in 2022, defended the Algerian athlete on social media.
Taking to herX pageon Wednesday (July 31), Amy wrote: “Have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif.
“Personally I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’.
“I [think] it’s the way she was born & that’s out of her control.
The Olympic Committee addressed the IBA’s “sudden” decision to disqualify Imane in 2023
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Imane grew up in a rural village in Tiaret in western Algeria, where she was introduced to boxing after being forced to defend herself against boys picking fights with her,UNICEFreported in March 2024.
The athlete struggled financially and training for boxing came as a challenge, as she was unable to ask her father, who, besides being away working in the Sahara desert as a welder, did not approve of boxing for girls,UNICEFwrote.
Upon being honored as a UNICEF national ambassador, Imane stated: “I am deeply honored to be an ambassador for UNICEF.
“My message to young people is to follow your dreams.
“Don’t let obstacles come in your way, resist any obstacles and overcome them.
“My dream is to win a gold medal. If I win, mothers and fathers can see how far their children can go.
“I particularly want to inspire girls and children who are disadvantaged in Algeria.”
“I’m not scared,” Anna toldreporterson Thursday. “I don’t care about the press story and social media. If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win.”
Sex can be much more complicated than it first seems,Scientific Americanwrote in 2018
Michael Phelps is literally referred to as a freak of nature because of his disproportionate wingspan, double jointed ankles, lung capacity twice that of an average human, body that produces half the lactic acid of a typical athlete, and he is rightly celebrated for being the…
— Caroline (@carolinekwan)August 1, 2024
The 23-year-old Hungarian athlete said she had avoided learning much about the controversy as it would be a distraction in her quest for gold, stating: “I’m trying to not use my phone before the fight.
“I just want to stay focused on myself. I did it before my last two fights, so I think this is the key, and we will see.”
Image credits:Focus Taiwan (CNA English News)
Anna reportedly found it hard to understand Angela’s decision to quit, as she said: “It was her choice, I don’t understand, because I thought every boxer’s mind is the same like mine, to never give up.
“But it was her choice. We don’t know what was the reason. It’s her life, but I know I want to do this in my own life.”
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting is scheduled to fight Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova at 3:30 pm CET on Friday (2 August) in a round-of-16 bout at 57kg.
“She’s perfectly eligible to compete in women’s sports,” a person commented on social media
Thanks! Check out the results:Renan Duarte
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