The 2024 Paris Olympics have been dogged by debates over inclusivity and transgenderism long before they even took place.
Perhaps trying to avoid the controversy, the International Olympic Committee has not publicly taken a position on whether transgender athletes should be able to compete against athletes of their preferred gender, rather than the sex they were born with.
“Each international federation is responsible for establishing the eligibility rules for its sport, including the eligibility criteria determining eligibility to compete in the Olympic Games,” the IOC said. Independent.
The Olympics officially stopped testing athletes’ chromosomes in 1999, instead placing the responsibility on individual sports federations. Yale The medical school said this was despite eight female athletes failing gender eligibility tests to compete in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Seven of the athletes were found to have androgen resistance and were genetically male, and the eighth had had his testicles removed. Despite all being male, all eight athletes were allowed to compete in the 1996 Olympics.
Since the end of IOC-led testing, each sport has implemented its own bans as it sees fit.
Swimming, for example, is governed by World Aquatics, which will ban transgender athletes from top-tier competition, including the Olympics, from 2022 onwards, although athletes who have completed their gender transition by age 12 will be able to compete against women.
“People are plotting to stop the Algerian flag from being raised.”
Similar guidelines will apply to women’s cycling races, but there will reportedly also be an “open” category for transgender people who want to take part.
Rugby and rowing follow similar guidelines requiring pre-puberty gender reassignment, while triathlon, tennis and archery have testosterone limits for female athletes.
The IOC has no official, uniform guidelines on what a woman is or who should be allowed to compete in women’s sports, yet the organization continues to lecture the media and the public on how they should talk about these issues.
A few weeks before the Olympics, the IOC released a set of “portrayal guidelines” urging broadcasters to avoid using “problematic” language when describing transgender athletes.
The guidelines warn broadcasters against “unconscious bias,” “gender stereotypes” and “gender bias,” and urge journalists to avoid “words or expressions that may be interpreted as prejudiced, discriminatory or sexist.”
Spectators at the games may have a completely different view of what constitutes “discriminatory or sexist” behavior after seeing clearly biologically males and females competing in a contact sport. 66kg In the boxing division, it took just 46 seconds for Italy’s Angela Carini to decide she wasn’t worth taking a punch from Algeria’s Imane Kherif.
Kherif has been widely criticised after it was revealed that the International Boxing Association (IBA) had disqualified him from the 2023 World Championships after IBA president Umar Kremlev said at the time that Kherif has “XY chromosomes”.
Carini withdrew from the bout and broke down in tears when she was announced the winner, later saying, “I wasn’t giving up, but that one punch hurt so much that I decided that was enough.”
Kherif reportedly blamed a “conspiracy” against Algeria for all the gender-related accusations.
“People are plotting against Algeria so that the Algerian flag will not be raised and we will not win a gold medal,” Kherif said.
The Algerian Olympic Committee also said the allegations about Kherif’s gender were “baseless”. Fox News.
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting has also been accused of making a mockery of boxing by unfairly competing against women and fighting distances of over 3,000 metres in boxing matches. 57kg.
The IOC confirmed in its internal system, which was accessible to journalists, that Lin had been stripped of his medal for the 2023 World Boxing Championships because he “did not meet the eligibility requirements based on the results of a biochemical test.”
Image from Blaze News via Bovada/Bodog
There’s also a clear advantage in the gambling world, with both boxers expected to win gold medals in their respective weight classes, according to betting site Bodog, at the time of writing.
“It’s sick and extremely disturbing that the IOC is allowing this kind of gender manipulation,” former NCAA champion athlete Caitlin Wheeler told The Blaze News.
Prior to these bouts, there was another controversial boxer who flew out of the spotlight early on in the Olympics: Filipino boxer Hargie Bassiadang.
75kg Fighter She lost the battle Bashadan is different in that, despite being a female fighter, she identifies as a man in the round of 16. Not only that, but she also says she doesn’t take testosterone and continues to compete in the women’s division.
“never [testosterone] And it will never be on the ‘T’.” Bachadan said on Instagram. “But I still consider myself a trans man because my heart tells me so,” she added.
“This is an attempt to humiliate us. Everybody knows this is wrong.”
They are not the only transgender-identified athletes competing in the Olympics.
Nikki Hiltz, for example, is a female athlete who has identified as “transgender and non-binary” since 2021. Hiltz, who will compete in the women’s 1,500m, uses the pronoun “they” and has so far chosen athletics over undergoing life-changing surgeries and treatments.
“It’s my dream to compete in the Olympics,” Hiltz said. Human Rights Campaign“But it’s also my dream to take testosterone, grow a beard and have surgery on the top of my head, so I think sometimes I really resent the sport.”
Similarly, Canadian soccer players Rebecca Quinn They identify as non-binary and transgender and use they/them pronouns. 2020“Quinn” preferred to be known by her last name instead of her full name, and she has publicly voiced her frustration with the media using her “deadname,” the name she was given before her gender transition.
“Nearly every publication, including LGBTQ news sources, has used my deadname when reporting my story. The news is important, and it’s critically important that we write about transgender people using their names and pronouns. Do your research, change the headline, and grow up.”
Zambian Women’s Soccer Team Similar controversy erupted at the Olympics when Barbara Banda and Rachel Kundanandji scored multiple goals against the Australian women’s team. Guardian report.
According to reports, it was initially thought that Banda would miss out on the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations after failing a gender eligibility test.
In Kundanandji’s case, he was barred from the tournament due to elevated testosterone levels.
but Telegraph We conducted an investigation and found that the truth is somewhat more complicated.
Instead, after interviews with the Confederation of African Football, the outlet learned that neither player had undergone gender eligibility testing, but rather tested positive for unacceptably high levels of testosterone and were therefore removed from the team roster because they did not want to take hormone suppressants.
Zambian officials confirmed to British media that Banda had abnormally high testosterone levels, a claim echoed by at least two other athletes, including Kundanandji.
Footballers reportedly refused to take suppressants due to uncompensated side effects.
Comedian Leonarda Johnny, who has been vocal on the issue, told Blaze News: “This is an attempt to shame us. Everybody knows this is wrong, especially those who allowed this to happen.”
“We want to let the powers that be, in this case the Olympics, know that there is nothing they can do about this,” Jonny added.
Former Olympian Caitlyn (née Bruce) Jenner shares this sentiment, saying she simply Said“Men are not fit to play women’s sports, that’s all.”
Jenner Condemned Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration have gutted Title IX and killed women’s sports.
While some sports are taking the concerns of biologically female athletes seriously, it may still be several years before there are major changes across all governing bodies around the world.
In sports where biological males have a clear advantage, such as weightlifting, there are no restrictions on testosterone levels or age for transitioning, and self-identification remains the law of the land. Unfortunately, it may take a combat sports incident like the boxing controversy to turn the tide in favor of biological females.
