If there was someone whose response to the Imane Khelif-Angela Carini bout at the Paris Olympics — and subsequent controversy — could elicit more outrage and liberal pearl-clutching than the fight itself and subsequent backlash, it’s GOP presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump.
And lo and behold, he didn’t disappoint.
In an eight-word post to Truth Social after the match Thursday, Trump attached a 14-second clip of the 46-second bout and declared, all caps, “I WILL KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS!”
The clip included the punch that ended up felling Carini, an Italian boxer:
Just to be clear, Khelif, who is Algerian, is a woman — but, as multiple outlets have reported, she’s tested positive for Differences of Sexual Development, or DSD.
In this case, it means that, while she has female genitals, she has XY chromosomes and almost everything else that usually comes with that.
“Women’s sports categories exist in most sports in recognition of the clear advantage that going through male puberty gives an athlete,” Reuters noted.
“That advantage is not just through higher testosterone levels but also in muscle mass, skeletal advantage and faster twitch muscle.
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“In combat sports such as boxing, this can be a serious safety issue.”
While the advantage this confers is up for debate in some situations, and Khelif is beatable — she has nine career losses, according to BoxRec, against 38 wins with six KOs — she was disqualified from the 2023 International Boxing Association world championships after apparently testing positive for DSD.
However, the International Olympic Committee is standing behind Khelif and another woman with the syndrome who were disqualified by the IBA from the world championships, saying in a statement they “were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision” and that “[t]he current aggression against 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.”
“All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit,” the statement noted.
“As with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.”
However, Trump wasn’t the only world leader taking exception to the result of the Khelif-Carini bout.
“It is a fact that with the levels of testosterone present in the blood of the Algerian athlete the race at the start does not seem fair,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, according to the U.K. Daily Mail.
“This, from my point of view, was not a competition on equal terms.”
And, this was hardly the only controversy that has befallen the Paris 2024 Olympics, which started with a mockery of God and has continued through to effluence in the Seine River postponing the triathlon. One more outrage and we officially have the four horsemen of the Olymp-ocalypse.
However, check the media and you’d insist the problem was Donald Trump, as well as some other “conservatives pounce!” nonsense.
HuffPo: “Olympic Boxer Who Had Gender Test Issue Wins Fight, Causing Conservative Meltdown.”
The New Republic: “Trump and MTG Freak Out Over Olympic Athlete They Insist Is Trans.”
NBC News: “Boxer previously barred from women’s events wins fight after opponent quits in 46 seconds; Trump, Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni all appeared to criticize including Imane Khelif of Algeria.”
Donald Trump: Just doing his job, doing it in all caps and looking pretty right while he’s doing it.
