Algeria's Imane Khelif, centre, approaches the ring at the start of a fight against Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng during the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
When boxer Imane Khelif steps into the ring at Roland Garros Stadium Friday she’ll be fighting for a gold medal, but the speculation, rumours and hatred she has endured since arriving in Paris won’t likely end with the final round.
The Algerian and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting – who will be fighting for gold in her own weight class on Saturday – have been vilified since the start of the Olympics over allegations they aren’t really women.
Their supporters argue there’s no proof they have male XY chromosomes and say they’ve been fighting as women for nearly a decade without anyone raising a concern. They also point out that the claims originated from an organization – the International Boxing Association (IBA) – that isn’t recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because of long-standing concerns about corruption and its ties to Russian oil giant Gazprom.
The best that the IBA’s Russian president, Umar Kremlev, has been able to do so far is insult the IOC’s leadership and talk vaguely about checking between the boxers’ legs.
Nonetheless, the controversy has captivated global attention in part because of the way the two fighters look and because the IBA disqualified them from last year’s world championships owing to undisclosed gender tests.
While the IOC has backed both athletes, the organization’s response has also caused confusion and raised questions about whether the boxers are among the athletes who have differences of sex development, or DSD, which can cause naturally high levels of testosterone.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif advances to gold-medal bout as controversy swirls
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Because of its dispute with the IBA, the IOC itself runs the boxing tournament in Paris and president Thomas Bach has said both fighters meet the Games’ eligibility requirements, which is partly based on the gender listed on their passports.
“We have two boxers who were born as women, raised as women, who have passports as women and who have competed for many years as women and this is a clear definition of a woman,” he said last week.
Mr. Bach also told reporters that DSD was not an issue in the case. But the IOC quickly issued a statement saying he meant to say there were no transgender issues.
Some of the fighters’ opponents at the Olympics have joined the fray and fuelled the fury surrounding the boxers.
Ms. Khelif’s first opponent in the under-66-kilogram weight class – Italy’s Angela Carini – caused an outcry when she abandoned her match against the Algerian after just 46 seconds because she said her opponent hit too hard. That set off a stream of invective from author J.K. Rowling, tennis great Martina Navratilova and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who all argued it was dangerous for Ms. Khelif, 25, to keep boxing at the Games because she was clearly a man.
A day later the IBA’s Mr. Kremlev offered to pay a consolation prize of US$50,000 to Ms. Carini, US$25,000 to her coach and US$25,000 to Italy’s boxing federation, which is not a member of the IBA.
The Italian federation has said that it won’t accept the cash and it’s unclear if Ms. Carini, 25, or her coach have taken the money. However, the Italian fighter has had a change of heart over her postfight comments. “I have nothing against Khelif and on the contrary if I happened to meet her again, I would give her a hug,” she told the Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport.
Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, left, reacts after defeating Turkey's Esra Yildiz Kahraman in their women's 57-kilogram semi-final boxing match.John Locher/The Associated Press
One of Ms. Lin’s opponents in the under-57-kilogram category, Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria, refused to comment after her loss. Instead, her coaches held up a handwritten note from the boxer that said, in English: “I only want to play with women. I am XX.”
On Wednesday, Turkish fighter Esra Yildiz Kahraman stood in the centre of the ring and made an X sign with her index fingers after she lost a unanimous decision to the 28-year-old Taiwanese boxer in the semi-finals. The gesture was widely seen as a reference to XX chromosomes.
The unrelenting scrutiny and the IBA’s attempts to explain its actions have only increased support for both boxers in some quarters.
Has boxing fought its last Olympic round?
Ms. Khelif’s semi-final fight against Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng on Tuesday drew thousands of fans carrying Algerian flags and shouting “Imane! Imane!” Before the fight, her supporters gathered in groups outside the famous home of the French Open tennis tournament, and chanted, “One, two, three, Algérie!”
“She has been subjected to many things that aren’t right,” said Foued Dilni, 46, who was among the many supporters of Ms. Khelif at the semi-final bout. “She has participated in many international competitions. She participated in the Tokyo Olympics without any problems. Why now?”
Ms. Lin, too, has received an outpouring of support from her compatriots. “Yu-Ting is still under a lot of unfair pressure, and I, like Taiwan’s people, feel distressed,” said Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te. The country’s Olympic committee is also considering suing the IBA.
Both boxers have said little about the furor, preferring to talk mainly about their fights. In an interview just before the semi-final, Ms. Khelif told SNTV, which is part of the Associated Press, that the online attacks have been hurtful. “It can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind,” she said. “It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”
Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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