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I can only hope that Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s double world champion, Lin Yu-ting, have support to see them through the Paris Olympics. Who on earth is resilient enough to cope with the level of abuse these women have received this week?
Women, I said – yes, women. Both competitors are women and have always been women.
It seems to me, however, that the “protect women’s spaces” mob revealed their true colours when JK Rowling went after these female Olympians – previous competitors at Tokyo, to be quite clear, with permitted hormone levels – and called them “male” based on unverified tests by the International Boxing Association (IBA). (The IBA, by the way, is the disgraced Russian-led world sporting body that was suspended at the time and has since been stripped of its powers altogether.)
Firstly, this is wildly irresponsible. Being homosexual, let alone trans, is illegal in Algeria and this witch-hunt could have the most appalling consequences for Khelif. Secondly, any genuine Olympics controversy – the Dutch male competitor previously jailed for raping a child, for example, on which Rowling has said nothing – is swerved in favour of manufactured conspiracy theories to bring in a trans row where there is none.
The IOC released a statement this week reiterating their unwavering support for their competitors. “These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA,” the IOC said. “Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.”
Italy’s Angela Carini forfeited her match against Khelif after 46 seconds in tears, saying she’d “never felt a punch like this”, which presumably led to Rowling’s posts. The misinformation that later erupted on social media was staggering – to the extent that Nicola Adams, Britain’s twice Olympic boxing champion, released a statement condemning trans athletes, when neither of the named competitors are trans.
(Irish Olympic champion Kellie Harrington, by the way, defeated Khelif in the last Olympics without any mention of Khelif’s hormone levels…)
In general with this row, it seems to me there is also a racial element here that cannot be ignored. As others have pointed out, Black and brown women who defeat white opponents are far more likely to be criticised than their white counterparts. Serena Williams was repeatedly called “a man” throughout her tennis career. Simone Biles has been bullied for her muscular (and medal-winning) arms.
The narrative that Khelif and Yu-ting have somehow “tricked” the world has taken off with the speed of something Donald Trump would post. “They didn’t just suddenly arrive, they competed in Tokyo,” as IOC spokesman Mark Adams said on Tuesday.
There are many reasons for having higher hormone levels. Through my work in infertility, I’ve learned that between 5 and 10 per cent of women have hyperandrogenism, which is a key symptom of polycystic ovarian syndrome. Having raised levels of “male” hormones does not mean you are a man. But examining female athletes from our sofas on the internet does diagnose us all as monsters.
Algeria and Taiwan have been staunch in support of their athletes – there is simply no way that Algeria would issue a female passport to someone if they suspected they were not. But the internet has been gripped by the idea of “secretive tests” which led to the two athletes being banned from last year’s World Championships.
Let’s look at those tests: in 2023, the Russian-led International Boxing Association was stripped of its powers “amid concerns over the IBA’s finance, governance, ethics, refereeing and judging”. They have not been allowed to organise Tokyo or Paris – the IOC did instead – but did organise the World Championships, where Khelif and Lin allegedly failed examinations which the IOC have dismissed as “misleading”.
Crucially, both athletes have always been well within permitted Olympic limits because – well, people are different. Adams, speaking for the IOC, put it succinctly when he said that testosterone “is not a perfect test”, clarifying that Khelif is not transgender and “this is not a transgender issue”.
“Many women can have testosterone in what would be called male levels and still be women, still compete as women,” he added. “So this panacea, this idea that you do one test for testosterone and that sorts everything out is not the case I’m afraid.”
What disgusts me is that there is a global emergency of male violence against women and girls – but it’s not in the middle of a boxing ring at the Paris Olympics. The threat is men acting just as they are.
Yet focusing on trans people, on anyone who is “different”, seems to give people a false sense of control. It gives them a section of society to blame or kick down on, when they should be focusing on the real perpetrators of violence – like the disgraced Dutch volleyballer who raped a child.
Ironically, there was a trans boxer at this Olympics – Hergie Bacyada of the Phillipines, the Olympics’ first publicly out trans man, who was defeated by China’s Li Quan in the Women’s 75kg. Nobody noticed him. Why? Because confected outrage gets clicks.
In my opinion, JK Rowling – in referring to female athletes as “male” – knows exactly what she is doing. And to me, it doesn’t seem like she and her cronies want to protect women, at all. It feels much more like they want to further their own agenda.
When we are encouraged to police or start questioning what a woman or man is – or what they look like – well, that has consequences for everyone. I, for example, am 6ft 1in. My voice is deep and I’m infertile. I’m a size 14/16 and I have my dad’s jawline. I’m not exactly your classic example of 1950s femininity – yet I am a woman, just like Khelif and Yu-ting.
In an interview with Unicef earlier this year to mark her becoming a Unicef ambassador, Khelif described how she started boxing to fend off boys who felt threatened by her skill at football and picked fights with her. When she started boxing, her father wouldn’t pay for lessons as he disapproved of it being a sport for girls. Now both her parents support her.
“My message to young people is to follow your dreams. Don’t let obstacles come in your way, resist any obstacles and overcome them,” she said. “My dream is to win a gold medal. If I win, mothers and fathers can see how far their children can go. I particularly want to inspire girls and children who are disadvantaged in Algeria.”
The Olympics offers people the chance to see what excellence looks like – and the many different forms it comes in. Khelif is a hero – she deserves to be treated as one.
