In recent weeks, one of the Olympic political blow-ups has been in Women’s Boxing. Because the medical interpretation of the situation is often misunderstood, misconstrued, and misreported it has played into the hands of a flare-up, causing outrage and confusion on all sides.
The center of this rests in a match between Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and her opponent, Italian boxer Angela Carini. After receiving what she described as the most severe blow in her career, Carini ended the fight in just 46 seconds for what she stated was a decision for her safety. She did not leave the ring gracefully, dramatically crying, causing uproar that Carini was unfairly competing against a man. Another women’s boxing athlete, Taiwanese Lin Yu-Ting has come under similar accusations for competing as a man in a woman’s event. Khelif and Yu-Ting are both speculated to have DSD.
What is DSD?
DSD stands for “Disorders of Sexual Development.” This is not the first incident of its kind. In Tokyo, two women runners were disqualified after genetically testing with XY chromosomes. This would make them genetically men, though they were born with female genitalia and have always identified as female. To add confusion to the reporting, this condition is often referred to as “transexual,” which in common vernacular usually refers to someone who has changed sexual identity.
As described by The Atlantic, “although genetically male, people with the condition lack a crucial enzyme, 5-alpha reductase, which means that as fetuses, their bodies cannot process a masculinizing hormone called DHT, which helps determine how the reproductive system develops. They are therefore born with internal testes but external female genitalia—and thus many are raised as girls. At puberty, their internal testes start to produce a different masculinizing hormone, testosterone, which their bodies are able to metabolize. And so they develop typically male muscle mass and proportions, and their genitalia take on a more male appearance. At this point, some people with 5ARD feel more comfortable identifying as men rather than as women.”
However, many with DSD stay with the female identity they were born with. Not all DSD conditions lead to a change in genitalia during puberty. One of the runners in the Tokyo Olympics, Semenya, was asked to reduce her testosterone levels, which could be done by simply taking birth control or hormone treatment. She refused, at the time stating she believes, “if you are a woman, you are a woman”.
Another point of confusion is that these athletes are often described as “women with high testosterone”. The reason this adds confusion is that women with YY chromosomes will never have close to the same testosterone levels as anyone with XY chromosomes. Someone with XY chromosomes typically has 10-30 times more testosterone – levels that could only be reached in a YY athlete by doping. This does give athletes with XY chromosomes a significant performance advantage. The reason women’s sports were created to compete apart from men is because of the performance differences.
There are some DSD conditions where certain hormones are never metabolized. It’s possible to have an XY chromosome where the testosterone stays within female levels, and would not give a female with XY chromosomes any athletic advantage. So the genetic test alone is not enough to determine performance advantage.
Is This A Trans Rights Issue? In the women’s ring this year is Filipino trans man Hergie Bacyandan. Bacyandan has received a mastectomy but because he has not yet begun any hormone replacement therapy to transition from female to male, he has no unfair advantage competing in women’s boxing and has not faced controversy on this level. There are other trans athletes competing in Paris nwho are ot receiving half of the publicity (positive or negative) as Khelif.
There is likely a higher proportion of female Olympic athletes with XY chromosomes than are found in the general population. It’s estimated seven out of a thousand female track and field athletes have XY chromosomes. The women’s boxing situation has become volatile as LGBTQ+ rights are a global trigger topic, but it’s the politics between the International Boxing Association and the Olympic Committee that led to ubiquitous gender testing guidelines.
The International Boxing Association is known to be corrupt and strongly aligned with Russia, which is not LGBQT+ friendly and pushes for genetic and hormone testing to qualify athletes. The International Boxing Association has been criticized for not following testing procedures and testing without consent. For the Tokyo Olympics, a third ad hoc boxing association was created in order to remove the Russian-led International Boxing Association from selecting athletes. The Olympic Committee has chosen to strictly use the gender an athlete uses on their passport in support of the athlete’s chosen identity.
Does Khelif Have Unfair Levels of Testosterone? Because of the athlete’s medical privacy, we don’t know. The International Boxing Association has banned her from competing in past events based on testing but has given contradictory statements. The Olympic Committee has stated their disqualification of Khelif in the past was arbitrary. It’s been implied the International Boxing Association claims about testing aren’t necessarily to be trusted.
Additionally, “For political reasons in general, not with respect to Khelif in particular, the International Olympic Committee doesn’t want to test athletes for sex because, in its view, it’s “impractical”—meaning expensive in the multiple ways it cares about—and discriminatory against XY athletes who identify as women.” (Quillette)
The ability to readily test for chromosomes and apply hormone therapy is relatively recent in the history of the Olympics. It opens a discrimination can of worms, it would be unfair to choose a small handful of women to test while requiring it for all athletes is expensive and likely excessive because DSD is rare. Using the passport gender is a historical precedent.
Another consideration is that Khelif is from Algeria, which adheres to conservative, strict social norms where she has always been a woman. The suggestion that she is anything but female has political repercussions and is a devastating attack on the athlete’s identity and character. In the handful of similar events of XY female athletes, none of them so far have intentionally entered women’s events to gain an unfair advantage.
Following the controversy, the Italian boxer, Carini, profusely apologized to Khelif for creating the attacks that followed with crowds bullying Khelif. Khelif and Carini have trained together in the past with no issue. Other women boxers have stated their support for Khelif, such as WBC world champion Skye Nicolson, who has previously sparred with and beaten Khelif.
Nicolson pointed out that these women have lost many matches in their careers. She said of Khelif and Yu-Ting, “They have competed as women the whole time. These are not naturally born men who have decided to call themselves women or identify as women to fight women in the Olympics.”
Khelif and Yu-Ting both won gold medals in their respective classes. The International Boxing Association gifted Carini $50,000 for her defeat, along with $25,000 to her national boxing association and another $25,000 to her coach. Despite the complexity, scrutiny, and strong opinions surrounding the spectacle, many of the players and coaches call it a politically motivated publicity stunt in a power-grab between the International Boxing Association and the Olympic Committee. Currently, there is some debate if boxing will be an Olympic sport in Los Angeles.
