1.A contentious fight over who should—and shouldn’t—be allowed to compete in women’s sports has materialized during the Paris Olympics as outrage over the participation of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who was disqualified from last year’s World Boxing Championships after she failed a gender eligibility test, has reached the gold medal match.
Key Facts
2.Khelif will fight Chinese boxer Yang Liu for the gold this week after a unanimous decision victory in the women’s 145-pound semifinals Tuesday. Khelif also defeated Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori by unanimous decision in the quarterfinal round
3.The Hungarian Boxing Association said prior to the bout it would send letters of protest to the International Olympic Committee and Hungary’s Olympic committee criticizing Khelif’s ability to participate at the Olympics.
4.The protest from the Hungarians came two days after Khelif’s first opponent, Angela Carini, withdrew from their match after a punch to the nose. Carini cried after the match and she would not pass judgment on the matter of her opponent’s eligibility, according to the Associated Press, and told reporters she had never felt a punch like one of the strikes she sustained from Khelif.
5.Carini later said she wished she could go back and change how she handled the moments after the fight and “wants to apologize” for not shaking Khelif’s hand after the match.
6.Khelif’s participation at the Olympics has been a subject of intense scrutiny after she was barred from participating in the 2023 International Boxing Association’s World Boxing Championships because she failed to meet eligibility requirements for the women’s competition, though the International Olympic Committee has defended her right to compete in the Paris games and scrutinized the IBA’s legitimacy.
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7.IBA president Umar Kremlev told reporters this week the test administered on Khelif showed elevated testosterone levels—a statement that appeared to contradict a July 31 IBA statement stating Khelif was not subject to a testosterone exam for the World Boxing Championships and was instead put through a separate test that found she had competitive advantages over other women athletes.
8.The IBA, which is not recognized by the IOC over transparency issues, has said the specifics of the test are confidential—though Kremlev alleged to Russian news agency TASS last year Khelif had XY chromosomes—a pair of chromosomes typically possessed by men (Kremlev did not disclose testing details or evidence for the claim).
