Olympic boxing controversy: Gender-bending is the new doping

Is it time to make DNA and other tests to ascertain athletes’ gender as important as drug screenings?

Ever since the Paris Olympics triggered culture warriors by dumping drag queens all over the opening ceremony like fleur de sel with a faulty cap, they’ve been on high alert for any perceived attempts by the organizers to further a woke, gender-bending agenda.

When Algerian boxer Imane Khelif defeated Italian Angela Carini in a fight that lasted just 46 seconds, with Carini taking a punch to the head and reeling from a suspected broken nose, it didn’t take long for social media to pick up on Carini’s cry that the match wasn’t fair. Nor would it take long for a debate to emerge along the usual fault lines around Khelif’s gender and for Khelif to become a Rorschach test.

Former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines tweeted that “men don’t belong in women’s sports,” to which X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk replied, “Absolutely.” Gaines has become an activist against men competing in women’s sports as a result of having to face off against transsexual swimmer Lia Thomas in the NCAA college swimming championships. And Musk has recently expressed upset over one of his children’s own gender transitioning.

“The idea that those objecting to a male punching a female in the name of sport are objecting because they believe Khelif to be ‘trans’ is a joke. We object because we saw a male punching a female,” ‘Harry Potter’ author and frequent transsexual issue commentator J.K. Rowling wrote.

Yet there isn’t any credible evidence that Khelif has ever undergone any kind of gender transitioning – something that would be unheard of in Khelif’s native Algeria.

“This is the purest form of evil unfolding right before our eyes,” boxer and influencer Logan Paul said. “A man was allowed to beat up a woman on a global stage, crushing her life’s dream while fighting for her deceased father. This delusion must end.” But then Paul deleted the posts. “OOPSIES,” he wrote. “I might be guilty of spreading misinformation along with the entirety of this app.”

It’s no wonder everyone’s confused. Two sports governing bodies have faced off over Khelif and another athlete competing in women’s boxing, China’s Lin Yu-Ting.

According to the International Boxing Association, the worldwide match sanctioning entity which disqualified both athletes in the 2023 World Championships where they won bronze and gold respectively, “the athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential. This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.” Regulations stipulate that proof could be in the form of a DNA test, but no further evidence has been provided to confirm the results – perhaps due to concerns around privacy violations.

In the other corner, the International Olympic Committee calls the IBA’s ruling “sudden and arbitrary,” which can also be true without the results themselves being illegitimate. Accusing its CEO, Chris Roberts (an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to British army boxing), of a unilateral decision, the IOC issued a statement related to the latest controversy, stipulating that “as with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.”

That’s hardly a rigorous test, particularly when there are at least two countries already – Canada and the US – that permit anyone to freely decide the gender that gets listed on their passport.

Arguably, the most levelheaded take came from Caitlyn Jenner, who was an Olympic decathlon champion when known as Bruce. She recently explained – in a Netflix documentary about Jenner’s sporting career and life – that it was Bruce Jenner who won those accolades, not Caitlyn. Bruce also had the integrity to keep the dresses at home and not show up in one to compete in the women’s decathlon – and Jenner does not now support any man who would. Jenner has described Khelif as “the Algerian competitor with XY chromosomes,” referencing the IBA test results, and has argued that the IOC has a duty to protect the integrity of women’s sports. The IOC doesn’t seem too interested in actively doing so, however, preferring instead to just take participants’ and countries’ word for it.

It’s unclear what Khelif’s specific case is, but it’s not impossible for a person to have male XY chromosomes yet also possess the sexual characteristics of a woman. The Denmark-based Novo Nordisk Foundation for medical research, including of sex chromosome abnormalities, calls them “hidden men.” According to their research, “one in 15,000 males is born and grows up as a girl. And neither these girls nor their parents know it. These girls do not discover anything different until puberty” when they simply don’t menstruate. And some even reach their 30s without realizing that they are genetically male, with “an extremely high level of testosterone and other male sex hormones.”

Is this the case with these two boxers? First, this has to be ascertained. And the IOC should do that rather than just brush off the IBA’s efforts and sweep them under the rug or attempt to discredit them without specific evidence. Then, rather than stick its head in the sand on gender-related issues that directly impact sporting results, the IOC should decide whether it’s going to in fact allow “hidden men,” in the exact words of scientific medical researchers, to compete against women in various sports. If so, then presumably women’s sports advocates would have something to say about it. But this discussion needs to take place openly and transparently.

The way things are going right now, couch warriors are policing gender in sports from home, with beer and Doritos in hand, because no one really trusts the authorities in charge of maintaining the integrity of the events anymore. It’s hardly unreasonable considering that the Paris Olympic organizers, whose actions are presumably validated or at least monitored by the International Olympic Committee, have already allowed ideology and special interests to trample the playing field.

Athletes in the Olympic Village have complained about the lack of available protein, such as meat and eggs, amounting to forced veganism in the interests of reducing carbon emissions (while increasing profit margins, no doubt). The lack of air conditioning for the athletes’ rooms, in upwards of 35C Parisian summer heat last week, amounted to greenwashing their own cheapness. Then they announced that plan B for the triathlon, if they couldn’t make the Seine river fecal bacteria test results work, was to have the triathlon just self-identify as a duathlon. Which came after having a totally gratuitous depiction of ‘The Last Supper’ in the opening ceremony self-identify as a drag show.

Despite the IOC’s increasingly laid-back approach to the Games, it at least pays lip service to maintaining an even playing field with doping tests, evolving in sophistication along with the cheating methods they’re meant to combat. With all the gender bending being promoted in Western society, maybe it’s also time for DNA tests to be included. Or not. In which case, everyone, regardless of gender, can just get jacked to the max and punch each other in the face for gold without concerning themselves with the details.

Image credit: Engin Akyurt

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of DTNZ.