If the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics told us anything, it is the fact that woke is the order of the day this year, whether you like it or not. And if offending a large chunk of the civilized world is not off limits, we should probably also assume that not much else is off limits as well. One of the questions surrounding this year’s Olympic games was no doubt the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports. But a rare condition may be a workaround for two athletes.
In March of 2023, Imane Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting from Taiwan were both disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships due to questions regarding their biological sex. Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), released a statement saying that DNA tests had “uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretend to be women.”
Kremlev added that the DNA test showed the athletes tested possessed XY chromosomes, making them males, and were excluded from competing in women’s events. Khelif was disqualified “due to the failure to meet the IBA eligibility criteria.” The other boxer in question, Lin, was also disqualified for similar reasons and stripped of a bronze medal. But despite these findings, both will compete in Paris as women.
But here is where things get a bit murky. Neither Khelif nor Lin has identified as transgender. While there has been no confirmation, it is believed that both athletes suffer from a condition known as Difference of Sexual Development, meaning they have both male and female genitalia. The condition also goes by a more common name, intersexism or hermaphroditism.
Here is the other part of the problem. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not issue a blanket statement regarding transgender athletes competing in women’s sports. Instead, the decision was left up to the governing bodies of the various sports represented at the Olympics. The governing bodies of at least ten Olympic sports have restricted transgender athletes from competing, including cycling, swimming, rugby, and cricket have banned transgender athletes if they underwent puberty before transitioning. The Paris 2024 Boxing Unit does not give any specifications for transgender athletes.
Two other sports governing bodies have issued a near ban on transgender athletes altogether. World Rowing and, wait for it, the World Boxing Council. So if it is the case that each individual sport has issued regulations on transgender athletes, and the World Boxing Council has all but outlawed transgender athletes from competing, how are these two athletes sliding under the radar? Here is another question. What are the odds that two athletes would be suffering from the same condition if, in fact, they are, and that condition affects only around two percent of people worldwide?
The theme for the Paris Olympics is clearly diversity, equity, inclusion, and wokeism. Because of that, the IOC was too chicken to make an across-the-board statement on transgender athletes competing, and the end result is that actual female athletes get the short end of the stick, again, and possibly seriously injured. Khelif is scheduled to fight Italy’s Angela Carini on August 1, and Lin is scheduled to fight the following day. Don’t Carini and Lin’s eventual opponent deserve to know exactly who they are fighting? Apparently not when it is all about the “#GenderEqualOlympics.” No word on whether the possible resulting injuries will be #GenderEqual too.