From being a woman to not being woman enough, skilled and well-trained female boxers, Iman Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan fight through this gender controversy and get closer to winning a medal!
It’s that time of the year when athletes from around the world get their due limelight as the world celebrates and witnesses their glory. The Olympics is that one event that gets people interested in sports they may not otherwise care about. The sheer excitement of watching top-notch athletes give their all while making a name for themselves and their country is all we need to feel some sense of accomplishment in our own lives. But between all the adrenaline and energy, some moments remind us how a grand event like the Olympics can be just as unfair and prejudiced as our society. Unfortunately, this year, boxers, Iman Khelif and Lin Yu-ting have become the face of the long-standing bias in sports, especially for women and other genders.
Who are they?
Khelif who used to play soccer as a teenager, gave it up after finding a new passion in boxing. Despite her father's opposition to girls participating in boxing, she used to travel 10 kilometres each way to the gym. She has since contended at top international events, and major amateur tournaments and won a few regional gold medals over the past six years.
After years of training, Algeria’s national team discovered her talent and Iman made her major tournament debut in 2018. Although she lost five of her first six elite-level games, Khelif became one of the three Algerian Olympic women boxers to be a part of the Tokyo Olympics three years ago where she won her first match only to lose against gold medalist Kellie Harrington of Ireland eventually. The boxer went on to fare well in the following world championships, ultimately becoming a UNICEF National Ambassador in 2024.
A Taiwanese Featherweight boxer, Lin Yu-ting started her career in boxing after being inspired by the anime Hajime no Ippo. She wanted to learn the sport not only for her love of it but also to protect her mother from domestic abuse. Lin has won two gold medals at the IBA World Boxing Championships. She also has two gold medals at the Asian Games and one at the Asian Amateur Boxing Championships. She appeared for Chinese Taipei at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Lin was also disqualified after a sex chromosome test that was done under the International Boxing Association. However, the Paris Olympics is happening under the IOC has discredited the IBA saying that the tests were ordered on arbitrary grounds.
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One spends months and years perfecting their craft to have a chance at taking a medal home. But it seems like despite the ‘progressive’ world we live in, women athletes are still the ones left to face the scrutiny of gender bias before people openly accept and celebrate their wins. Both these boxers are another addition to a very long list of cis women who have been accused of being trans or a man. People are choosing to ignore their years of training and ability and want a certificate of their femininity instead.
What happened that got the internet talking about Iman?
The Algerian boxer became a part of a controversy after her opponent, the Italian boxer, Angela Carini withdrew within 46 seconds after landing a powerful blow. The boxer paused and walked away from Khelif when her coach signalled she would not continue the match and the referee stopped the fight. What followed was a series of reactions with people questioning Iman's eligibility to compete in the game, by bringing up her disqualification from last year’s world championship. She was disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) citing her high level of testosterone in 2023. However, this disqualification has been considered highly unusual as many consider the test unspecified and not transparent.
Various celebrities and leaders took to Twitter to share their transphobic comments on the boxer.
As the controversy around her gender took over the internet, the IOC shared a statement showing their support for the athlete. While addressing the media, Mark Adams, IOC Spokesperson said, "The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, and has a female passport."
Despite the continued allegations and speculations about their gender, the boxers have clinched closer to winning a medal as Iman qualified for the semi-finals after beating Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary. Meanwhile, Lin defeated the Bulgarian boxer Svetlana Staneva in the women’s 57-kilogram competition and was assured to win at least a bronze medal.
But here's how people showed their support!
All this controversy did was raise a question that continues to be unanswered. How much woman does a woman need to be so she can continue to do what she loves without her gender being questioned? People often have an attached fear of girls choosing sports as a career. What if you represent the country and win a medal, how can you run around a track showing your legs? You are a girl, why don't you try a sport that suits you? Why do you want to fight in a ring? And the most recent one being, 'You don't look feminine enough, maybe you are a man.'
The fact that female athletes have to undergo tests and comply with rules like the Difference Of Sex Development (DSD) while male athletes are exempted from it shows how gender bias has and will always exist in sports. It's another reminder of how hard women have to work and be prepared to face pointing fingers for simply being good at what they do. This doesn't stop, does it?
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