Skye Nicolson, the women’s featherwheight boxing world champion, has come to the defense of embattled Algerian boxer Imane Khelif — and somehow managed to make her situation look even worse.
The Australian Nicolson, who has gone pro, will not be competing in the 2024 Paris Games, but she has sparred with both Olympic boxers disqualified for Disorders of Sexual Difference by the International Boxing Association, yet controversially allowed to compete by the International Olympic Committee.
She accused those who don’t think Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting should be allowed to compete are “jumping on the bandwagon without knowing all the details.” She then confirmed that, yes, most people do know the details by now — and they still have the same concerns.
Both Khelif and Lin were disqualified from the 2023 IBA world championships in New Delhi after allegedly testing positive for DSD, an umbrella term for those born with mismatching genitals and chromosomes. In this case, it would mean that they would have XY chromosomes but female genitalia.
The issue exploded after Khelif beat Italy’s Angela Carini in 46 seconds, with the deciding hit being a brutal blow to the nose that the Italian boxer never recovered from:
The Olympics allowed a biological man, Imane Khelif, to fight as a woman despite his XY chromosomes. The end result?
“I have never been hit so hard in my life.”
Italian Olympian Angela Carini lasted 46 seconds before quitting due to how painful it was. It’s just shameful that… pic.twitter.com/OWhKggM7qe
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 1, 2024
As Reuters noted in an explainer, DSD can present issues in sports like boxing.
“Women’s sports categories exist in most sports in recognition of the clear advantage that going through male puberty gives an athlete,” the wire service noted. “That advantage is not just through higher testosterone levels but also in muscle mass, skeletal advantage and faster twitch muscle.
“In combat sports such as boxing, this can be a serious safety issue.”
The IBA didn’t say what tests the women had undergone, citing confidentiality, saying that the boxers’ disqualification was “a result of their failure to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition,” according to Agence France Presse.
“The athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential.”
The IOC’s statement didn’t deny that there was a confirmation of DSD, merely stating that the two boxers “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 IOC added in a joint statement with the Paris Boxing Unit. “As with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.”
Someone’s passport doesn’t say whether they should qualify for the Olympics, however. For instance, I don’t think there’s any portion of Lance Armstrong’s passport that says: “Known Blood Doper: Yes.” Khelif has intimated the tests were the result of a conspiracy. Neither the IOC nor IBA will confirm that she has XY chromosomes.
So, leave it to Nicolson, helpfully, to do the confirmation whilst defending Khelif:
“I just want to clarify a couple of things: 1. I’ve actually fought and sparred both of the girls. They were born female,” she said in a social media message, according to the U.K. Daily Mail.
“They were born with an XY chromosome, which is the male chromosome, but they were born with female bodies. They have the physical attributes of a female.” [Emphasis ours.]
“They have grown up as girls, as females, as women. They have competed as women the whole time. These are not naturally born men who have decided to call themselves women or identify as women to fight women in the Olympics.”
That entire statement is probably true, except for two things that are mutually exclusive of one another.
- We do not know for certain, because nobody is willing to go on the record about specifics, whether or not these boxers have XY chromosomes and whether or not they meet the criteria for most female combat athletes to compete at the highest level.
- If what Nicolson is saying is true and she’s willing to go on the record that these women do have DSD, then they do not necessarily have the same body as a usual female thanks to a difference in both chromosomal and hormonal makeup.
Everyone going on the record defending these boxers, particularly Khelif, has tried to elide over these two important points. They don’t want to acknowledge whether No. 1 is true — simply resorting to confirming that yes, Khelif and Lin were born female and still identify as such, which is good enough for them — or claiming that No. 2 is false, in contravention of medical evidence which states otherwise.
Nicolson, rather alarmingly, simply elides over point No. 2. She doesn’t even bother offering evidence, aside from the fact she sparred with them. Which, OK. That’s her choice. If she wants to get into the ring with a man in an unsanctioned event, that’s her choice, too. I don’t know that I’d recommend either unless you feel supremely confident in your pugilistic abilities, but, (quite literally) knock yourself out.
There are certain realities which are cruel and heartbreaking but remain, at the end of the day, realities. This is one of them.
Those who support the rights of transgender men to compete as women tell parents, as U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe put it, “I’m sorry, your kid’s high school volleyball team just isn’t that important. It’s not more important than any one kid’s life.”
In the case of Imane Khelif, even though she apparently isn’t transgender but intersex, even if you buy this argument — which is nonsense, but let’s go with the flow — the question is this: Is her life more important than someone else’s life?
Because that’s essentially what you’re talking about. In a sport where death (at worst) and traumatic brain injury (at least) are realities of the landscape, you’re essentially saying that Khelif’s right to compete because it improves her quality of life is more important than someone else’s right to compete and enjoy life or quality of life — thanks to the risk of serious injury due to potential natural inequalities that medical treatments cannot attenuate.
Nicolson isn’t the one stepping into the ring with Khelif or Lin for a serious competition. She’s sparred with the two. Period, full stop. The IBA has a vastly different opinion than hers. The IOC, which used to be governed by the IBA when it came to boxing, hasn’t offered a sufficient explanation as to why the governing body’s tests and conclusions were incorrect, other than a vague statement that reeks of being passed through several inclusivity filters.
In other words, in jumping to defend Khelif from those who were “jumping on the bandwagon without knowing all the details,” Nicolson made things worse. Nice work.
