The Associated Press has come under fire for giving this year's third-place female athlete spot to Imane Kherifu, the controversial Olympic boxer who failed a gender test.
The Associated Press released the award rankings, noting that this year's female athlete of the year was WNBA star rookie Caitlin Clark. The next two were Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, who came in second place, and Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Kherif, who came in third place with four votes.
Of course, Kerif caused controversy when she failed a gender test and was disqualified from the women's division of boxing competitions throughout 2023, but she was still allowed to box as a woman at this year's Paris Olympics. Unsurprisingly, the Algerian fighter defeated every female opponent in the ring to win gold in boxing in August.
“The IBA has ordered Kerif, who competes in the 66kg weight class, and Lin Yuting, a Taiwanese athlete who competes in the 57kg weight class, on the grounds that they failed unspecified tests to confirm that: They have been disqualified from competing in the women's tournament in March 2023. They meet the governing body's definition of women,” Breitbart's Frances Martel reports. “IBA President Umar Kremlev” said Russian news agency Tass reported that Lin and Kerif “have XY chromosomes,” the genetic structure of human males.
“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not use the IBA testing standards, only requires athletes to present their passports, and qualifies as male or female depending on each country's classification. and allowed Kerif to participate.
However, following the revelation that the boxer, who was determined to have male XY chromosomes, finished third in the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year poll, many on social media took to social media to ask if Kerif was included. He harshly criticized the news agency.
One of the most notable critics of the AP's choice was tennis legend Martina Navratilova, who jumped on her X account and declared, “What??”
But Navratilova wasn't the only one to express anger over the awards ranking.
Riley Gaines, an advocate for women's sports, also called the AP's move “ridiculous,” claiming that the organization “knows that Kerif is a man.”
Many other social media users were similarly disgusted by the AP's actions.
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