If you’re the International Olympics Committee, or a broadcaster, or an amateur athlete, it would ordinarily be good news that people are talking about the quadrennial games.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case in Paris in 2024. From mockery of God to effluence in the Seine disrupting the men’s triathlon, it seems there’s been little cause for organizers to celebrate. And now, they face what’s likely their biggest challenge yet: a women’s boxer named Imane Khelif.
Khelif, who is Algerian, also has the relative advantage of XY chromosomes, which would typically make her male. Multiple outlets, including Reuters, reported that she suffers from one of a range of extremely rare medical conditions known as Differences of Sexual Development, which can include cases where one’s chromosomes and genitals are “mismatched” when they’re born.
She’s one of two boxers competing as female who were disqualified from last year’s world championships in New Delhi after the International Boxing Association said they failed a test — in this case, just hours before the gold medal bout in 2023.
“Some people with DSDs are raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes, blood testosterone levels in the male range and the ability to use testosterone circulating within their bodies,” Reuters reported.
“That advantage is not just through higher testosterone levels but also in muscle mass, skeletal advantage and faster twitch muscle,” the wire service noted. “In combat sports such as boxing, this can be a serious safety issue.”
However, part of the issue is that the IBA has been stripped of its role in governing boxing at the Olympics. Instead, the role fell to the IOC, which has diversity guidelines that make gender inclusion the default status — essentially allowing those with DSDs to compete as women, including in sports like boxing.
The only time an individual is excluded is if there are safety and fairness concerns. While you’d think this would be one instance where that applies, the IOC disagrees, with the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit and IOC putting out a joint statement, saying that they were “committed to protecting the human rights of all athletes participating in the Olympic Games” and that the competitors “were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA.”
Is it fair for Imane Khelif to compete against women?
However, it doesn’t deny that the women have DSDs — and Khelif’s first-round opponent quit 46 seconds into the fight, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported, after she said she feared for her safety and had never been hit so hard by another competitor before.
Angela Carini of Italy broke down after the fight, saying that she’d never taken hits so hard throughout her career. Video of a punch that landed on her nose showed just how violent Khelif’s punches can be:
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
Now, another one of Khelif’s opponents is speaking out.
Brianda Tamara was beaten by Khelif in December 2022, before the chromosomal and testosterone tests allegedly disqualified her from the IBA world championships in March 2023.
“When I fought with her [Khelif] I felt very out of my depth, her blows hurt me a lot,” the Mexican boxer said said in a March 2023 post, translated via Google.
“I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realized.”
Cuando pelee con ella lo sentí muy fuera de mi alcance, me lastimaban mucho sus golpes, creo que nunca en mis 13 años de boxeadora me había sentido así, ni en mis sparrings con hombres. Gracias a Dios ese día baje con bien del ring, y que bueno que por fin se dieron cuenta pic.twitter.com/0mHyhNfq4X
— Brianda Tamara OLY (@BriandaTamara) March 26, 2023
Why has she been quiet? As she wrote under a post on Instagram criticizing Khelif’s participation in the Olympics, she said that “they wished me death when I just reacted” to her genetic advantage, the Daily Mail reported.
Video of the bout doesn’t lie:
This was Imane Khelif fighting in Mexico in December 2022 against a Mexican woman.
Three months later, a test apparently revealed the XY chromosome.
Note the force of the punching.
Imane’s opponent that day, @BriandaTamara, said she certainly did:#OlympicGames #Boxing https://t.co/NvltUigCbT pic.twitter.com/8PhfGzJO2F
— teresa smith (@treesey) July 29, 2024
Now, to be fair, Khelif’s case represents a huge statistical outlier. However, her “mismatched” chromosomes and genitalia give her an unfair advantage — and, while her record shows she is beatable, she’s also an unusually hard puncher, as the evidence will show.
She has the choice not to compete, and the Paris Olympics have the choice not to put women in danger. Neither one wants to exercise it, which is why the world is talking. And, despite the farrago of wokeness embodied by the IOC — both in their joint statement about Khelif and elsewhere in Paris — they’re not speaking favorably about what’s happening in France right now, either.
