Paris 2024: Olympic boxing’s gender controversy, explained

PARIS — It wouldn’t be an Olympics without a cultural controversy, and we’ve already seen several from these Games. Last week, the Opening Ceremony inflamed passions, and this week, a boxer’s quick dispatching of her rival set off critics. Here, explained, is the developing story of the Olympic boxing gender scandal, involving Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting.

Are men boxing in women’s divisions at the Paris Olympics?

The International Olympic Committee has repeated on multiple occasions that Khelif and Lin, who are both boxing in the Paris 2024 Games, are biological women, according to their passports.

Both were disqualified from the World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, India, last year by the International Boxing Association, which barred athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events. The specifics of the test were unclear, and the IOC continues to maintain that it does not know the specifics of what the tests measured.

“We have no knowledge of what the tests were,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a briefing in Paris Friday morning. “They were cobbled together, as I understand, overnight to change the results (of the world championships).”

Adding to the murkiness: the IOC suspended the IBA as the sport’s Olympic governing body over concerns about match fairness, among other concerns, in 2019. Last year, the IOC formally stopped recognizing IBA as a governing body, replacing it with the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit.

The IOC also condemned the IBA’s disqualification of Khelif and Lin. “These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA,” the IOC said in a Thursday statement. “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.”

IOC officials noted that at this year’s boxing competition, as in previous Games, “the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.”

Why did this come to light now?

The story exploded into the world news cycle when Khelif beat Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday, so mercilessly and so quickly that Carini retired from the fight in less than a minute.

“I had entered the ring to fight,” Carini said in Italian, through tears, after the fight. “I didn’t give up, but a punch hurt too much, and so I said enough. I go out with my head held high.”

The brutal defeat — and Carini’s emotional reaction — set off waves of criticism of Khelif, prompting the IOC to release a statement condemning the abuse. “The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving,” the IOC said in a Thursday statement. “Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination.”

Who are Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting?

Khelif is a woman who grew up in rural Algeria, raising money for the six-mile trip to the nearest boxing gym by selling scrap metal. She reached the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and finished fifth, and then won gold in 2022 at the African championships as a light welterweight. She has an overall record of 38-9.

Lin has been boxing since 2013, and lost in the round of 16 at the 2020 Games. She has an overall record of 40-14, with one knockout.

Neither Khelif nor Lin identify as transgender.

Is Khelif’s defeat of Carini proof that something is severely amiss?

Not necessarily. The Olympics brings together individuals of wildly varying skills. Blowouts and thunderous defeats are not uncommon in early rounds. In itself, Khelif’s 45-second defeat of Carini does not prove that Khelif had any kind of unfair advantage over her opponent, any more than Katie Ledecky or Simone Biles’ massive victories in later rounds of their competitions do.

So why is this such a concern for boxing?

Safety, first and foremost. When Katie Ledecky beats fellow swimmers to the wall, she doesn’t then unleash an uppercut that could put them in the hospital. But combat sports demand a higher degree of attention to safety, and any aspect of physicality that grants an unfair advantage requires additional scrutiny. Boxers are already divided by their indisputable physical characteristics — their weight — so seeking additional clarification on physical matters would not be breaking new regulatory territory.

Why has this become such a cultural firestorm?

The issue of biological men competing in women’s sports has consumed much of the cultural discussion in recent years, most notably in swimming. When Lia Thomas, a trans woman competing for the University of Pennsylvania, began defeating many — but not all — biological females, critics challenged her right to be in the pool, competing on an equal level. Thomas is not competing in the Olympics.

Several commentators have wrongly made the assumption that Khelif is a trans woman, and from there repeated familiar talking points about “men competing in women’s sports.” Former president Donald Trump, who is running for re-election this fall, offered up his own opinion on his Truth Social network, writing, “I WILL KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS” alongside a video of Khelif’s defeat of Carini.

“What I would urge is that we try to take the culture war out of this and actually address the issues and think about the individuals and the people concerned,” Adams said. “Real damage is being done by misinformation.”

What is the United States’ position?

USA Boxing released a statement on the matter which reads, in part: “All qualified athletes have competed internationally for several years and in the qualifying events leading up to the Olympic Games. The athletes have passed the necessary and stringent medical testing and guidelines put forth by the IOC.

“The eligibility rules in place for the Olympic Games have been in place for years and USA Boxing has confidence that the IOC and the PBU’s eligibility requirements consider medical expertise and prioritize the safety of the athletes. USA Boxing prioritizes the safety of our boxers and would not knowingly enter our boxers into competitions unless eligibility rules relied on sufficient medical support.”

What’s next?

Yu-ting defeated Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan on Friday via a unanimous decision to move on to the quarterfinals. Khelif is scheduled to fight Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori on Saturday in a women’s 66kg quarterfinal.

The IOC has repeatedly indicated it will not change the qualification rules in the middle of a competition, so for the moment, both boxers are still in the hunt for medals.