The definition of a Female Olympian explained? Olympic Boxers Imane Khelif, Lin Yu-Ting and the DSD Controversy…
Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, female boxers Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan, and Imane Khelif of Algeria, who have competed in boxing competitions as women for years, are being accused of being ‘DSD’, something other than the traditional definition of female, even though they were both born as females, and theoretically consider themselves to be females in every sense.
“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure-especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement Thursday.
The term ‘Differences in Sex Development’, or DSD, is used to refer to a wide range of different scenarios, a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs, including genitals, which means a person’s sex development is different to most other people. Individuals can either have sex chromosomes generally linked with being female (XX chromosomes) or usually associated with being a man (XY chromosomes), yet have reproductive organs and genitals that may look different. A person may have a womb and may also have testicles inside their body. Sometimes the testicles might not work properly. Some people with a very rare type of DSD have both ovarian and testicular tissue (sometimes even one ovary and one testis). Their genitals may appear female or male or could look different from either. Not everybody with a Y chromosome is a male, and not everybody with an X chromosome is a female.
The controversial outcry started after Khelif won her match against Angela Carini of Italy in somewhat dramatic fashion. Carini quit just 46 seconds into the bout after two of Khelif’s punches dislodged her chinstrap, and bloodied her shorts. After deciding to withdraw, she fell to her knees sobbing in the ring, later stating “I have never been hit so hard in my life.” Khelif told BBC Sport “I’m here for the Gold (medal). I (will) fight everybody.”
Are Kelif and Yu-Ting females as traditionally defined? That is the question. To what extend are chromosomal and gender variations to be tolerated within the definition of female? Both Khelif and Yu-Ting identify as, and have long competed under the category of female, but both were disqualified last year from the 2023 women’s world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for what it called failure to meet “eligibility rules.”
In the view of this reporter, a lot depends on what definition is accepted as female by which amateur, professional, and country sanctioning bodies. The cross definitions evidently are not all the same. Transgender, nonbinary, and gender variations, as well as chromosomal variations, have led to confusion in who gets approved and who does not, as a male or female, depending where.
If the IOOC defines these two competitors as women, then in theory they can compete as such. The issue involved is whether or not the gender and chromosomal variations give female or male competitors any kind of unfair advantage. Some say yes, some say no, some say we don’t know or we’re not sure. The controversy is other teams are crying foul at the Olympics against these two particular competitors. Without precise facts as to the precise definition of what constitutes a female at the 2024 Olympics, no statement can be made to the controversy as yet. Obviously, the current Olympic Games differ from Olympic Games past.
Khelif and Yu-Ting have won their matches thus far, and have advanced to the semifinals at the Olympics, ensuring they will both win at least bronze medals, barring any type of disqualification.
“I don’t care about anyone’s opinion,” Khelif said in Arabic. However, different countries have filed protests inquiring as to the criterion used to determine how these two women, Khelif and Yu-Ting, were classified as females at the 2024 Paris Olympics, when this was not necessarily the case for them at other worldwide competitions.
The answer is complicated. Today we live in a more open, tolerant world in the majority of countries worldwide. Judgement is just a word. Who and what determines how individuals with varying gender and chromosomal characteristics get classified as male or female, and get approved to compete in variation amateur and professional competitions remains an open question subject to changing interpretations.
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