The Discussion Around Women’s Olympic Boxing Is Hurting Everyone

The Olympics are supposed to be a celebration: of accomplishment, of national pride, and of coming together. Unfortunately, the 2024 Paris Olympics have been marred by a bunch of idiots who don’t understand how women’s bodies work.

I am, of course, talking about the ridiculous, hateful backlash around Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting. As a refresher (a deeper dive can be found here), Khelif and Yu-ting were banned from the sport in 2023 for tests relating to “eligibility criteria” and were disqualified from the World Championships for boxing just days before the event was to conclude. This year, they were allowed to compete in the Olympics. Some people have a problem with that. They’re wrong and ignorant, though.

First, the governing body of the boxing World Championships is the International Boxing Association (IBA). The IBA used to govern boxing in the Olympics. However, they were banished by the International Olympic Committee in 2021 for being simply too corrupt. You have to take a second to understand the enormity of this: one of the most widely accepted corrupt organizations in the world (the IOC) said to another, “Whoa, pals, too corrupt, even for us!” So off the bat, anything the IBA says or does should be taken with a massive grain of salt. They simply have nothing to do with the Olympics and are running their own even more corrupt show the way they want to.

Another thing to note is that the IBA hasn’t come out and said what tests the athletes failed; in fact, they refuse! Although at one point they did state both athletes have Y chromosomes, according to The Cut. Here is a current statement they’ve made on the issue:

On 24 March 2023, IBA disqualified athletes Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif from the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships New Delhi 2023. This disqualification was a result of their failure to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA Regulations. This decision, made after a meticulous review, was extremely important and necessary to uphold the level of fairness and utmost integrity of the competition.

Point to note, the athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential. This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.

IBA

So, a couple of things on the IBA statement. They also go on to state that Khelif appealed the decision, but withdrew the appeal. Yu-ting did not appeal. As if that means anything? You already have an organization so corrupt the IOC felt confident (despite many of their own bribery scandals—I mean, they are currently essentially blackmailing the U.S. not to look into another country’s doping schemes) to call this organization out publicly. Why would either athlete bother to appeal if they already know the outcome is rigged?

Since I’ve made a big deal about how corrupt the IOC is, you may be thinking allowing Khelif and Yu-ting to compete is an asinine example of that—except the IOC, when they revoked IBA’s governing of the sport, established an ad-hoc committee to take over, called the Paris Boxing Unit (PBU). So, sure, maybe this is all a big conspiracy, but all signs are pointing to no. Here’s the IOC/PBU statement on this:

The PBU used the Tokyo 2020 boxing rules as a baseline to develop its regulations for Paris 2024. This was to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparations and guarantee consistency between Olympic Games. These Tokyo 2020 rules were based on the post-Rio 2016 rules, which were in place before the suspension of the boxing International Federation by the IOC in 2019 and the subsequent withdrawal of its recognition in 2023.

[…]

These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.

According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say that the IBA should “establish a clear procedure on gender testing”.

Olympics.com

It’s worth noting that you can be a cisgender woman and still have a Y chromosome, no matter how many transphobes hide their hate behind a seventh grade understanding of biology. Science!

At its heart, this controversy is misogynistic. It’s an excuse for the lessers among us to engage in the worst thoughts they feel about people they think are “other” from them. It is not lost upon me that Khelif’s opponent, a white boxer, was interviewed on TV crying. White women’s tears weaponized once more!

These idiots are also telling on themselves. Just look at what odious Piers Morgan put out on social media:

THE SOLUTION: If any part of your biology is male, you don’t get to compete against women. End.

Piers Morgan

I feel like school failed so many people. Biological females naturally produce androgens. Androgens are the hormones typically associated with biological males, like testosterone. (Piers, if you’re reading this, it works the other way, too. Biological males produce estrogen, too. The horror!)

This is not about protecting women. If it were, these idiots would be screaming about domestic violence, maternal mortality rates, the wage gap, putting more money into medical research so women’s bodies are included in studies, I could go on. This is simply about misogyny, transphobia, and othering. Let’s not gloss over the fact that the people primarily screaming about this are white, and the athletes are not. It’s gross. This isn’t the first time it’s happened, either. Remember Caster Semenya?

At the center of this manufactured BS are two women who have trained for thousands of hours, and undoubtedly made numerous personal sacrifices to get to the Olympics, only to have their entire identity called into question on an international stage by opportunistic bigots who got their facts wrong. It must be heartbreaking, embarrassing, and confusing for them. The focus is now on their biological sex instead of their impressive boxing skills.

Furthermore, even if Khelif or Yu-ting have a biological reason that may aid in their sport, I don’t see how that’s any difference from any other elite athlete’s body. You don’t become the best of the best without some biological advantages. Michael Phelps had the perfect body for swimming. Simone Biles is the ideal gymnast. If you swap those two, I doubt either would excel in the other’s sport. The American Association for the Advancement of Science op-ed about Semenya’s participation in the 2012 Games agrees:

 Biological variability is part of the reason we have the Olympics to begin with; it should be celebrated, not derided. […] females with high levels of testosterone (who are often intersex) have been singled out […] because of the complicated feelings society has about gender and femininity

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Additionally, the same article pointed out that, as of 2012, there was no scientific proof that testosterone aids athletes:

“there is no evidence showing that successful athletes have higher testosterone levels than less successful athletes.”

American Association for the Advancement of Science

What we do know is that the worst among us will never pass up an opportunity to attack women, especially if they’re not white.