The 2024 Olympics is underway and already transphobes in global media and on social media have mobilised to make it all about them and their beliefs. Imane Khelif is a cisgender woman however rumours persist that she is transgender or otherwise has an intersex variation which transphobes believe should disqualify her from competition.
I want to make two facts about this entire story extremely clear from the get go. 1) Imane Khelif is a cisgender woman. She was born and raised in Algeria as a girl, she has spoken about her father not wanting her to participate in boxing due to believing it’s a man’s sport. There are photos of her as a child. She has never once identified herself to be transgender or anything other than a woman/girl.
2) There is absolutely no concrete information about whether or not Imane Khelif actually has an intersex variation or not. This is a rumour spurred on by a report from the International Boxing Association which is completely non-specific in what it says. Sex testing is not a standardised or standardiseable procedure and different governing bodies have different approaches.
Initially rumours and a BBC report were suggesting that Khelif had shown elevated testosterone levels however a subsequent IBA statement outright states they did not test for testosterone levels but reiterates Khelif did not meet their eligibility criteria.
The IBA eligibility criteria states its definition for a woman as: “means an individual with chromosome XX” leading to rumours that Khelif is therefore XY. The IOC, who govern the eligibility in the Olympics have repeatedly reaffirmed that Khelif meets their eligibility criteria.
Previously the IOC recognised the IBA as the international governing body for boxing. However in 2019 the IOC suspended its recognition of the federation, in 2023 formally stripped it of its status and expelled it from the Olympic movement. A decision which was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2024.
Suffice to say, the IBA are not exactly the most trustworthy of organisations.
Angela Carini and Imane Khelif’s fight was cut short when Carini backed out of the fight in under a minute stating Khelif hits harder than anyone she’s ever fought. Khelif hit Carini twice.
In summary; Imane Khelif is a cisgender woman who may or may not be intersex in some respect and no one, besides those legally unable to reveal any information, actually knows for sure. Everyone commentating on this, including myself, is doing so on the basis of rumours and hearsay. Those are the facts.
Yet its become an international talking point; there is wall to wall coverage of Imane Khelif across mainstream media, my social media and even on YouTube with the likes of Philip DeFranco weighing in. Everyone is suddenly an expert in boxing, gender testing and the#IStandWithAngelaCarini hashtag is being boosted by billionaire bigots such as Twitter owner and cisgender man; Elon Musk.
And its honestly disgusting. It doesn’t matter whether Imane Khelif is or isn’t transgender or intersex. The invasion into her life by the world’s media spurred on by bigots who have nothing to lose but everything to gain from making this outrage stick is abhorrent. It’s a completely inhumane way to treat a person.
I say it doesn’t matter because all evidence shows that even if she were transgender or intersex this does not confer an “unfair advantage”. Transgender and intersex athletes are not exactly swimming in championshp medals and indeed Khelif’s own record shows she not undefeatable, including at Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics.
Not to mention sport is literally the pursuit of physical and technical advantage in order to win or perform the best. That’s like… definitionally what sport at this level is. The idea that her best is just too darned good so she must be disqualified to give everyone else a chance – even though she is by no means undefeatable – is ridiculous irrespective of anything else. But it isn’t uncommon.
Countless women athletes have faced accusations that they are men or otherwise been told they are too masculine or “play like a man”. Here in the UK we have even had an athlete sue our state broadcaster because of it. As Fatima Whitbread sued for libel regarding two panelists on a BBC show claiming she had high levels of testosterone in her blood.
It should also be noted and come as no surprise to anyone that Fatima Whitbread is a woman of colour, as are Serena and Venus Williams who have faced similar accusations, and Brittney Griner, and yes; Imane Khelif. Women of colour are far more likely to be accused of being transgender, intersex, having high testosterone or otherwise being too masculine to compete fairly than any other athlete.
Contrastingly when Michael Phelps, a white man, was doing really good at sport our media and society ran documentaries about whether he could out swim a shark and published articles about how he’s just genetically better at swimming and why that’s a great thing actually. It doesn’t take a genius to see why one is treated differently than the other.
I can only hope that whether Imane does well in these fights or not she finds some really good lawyers and starts suing the absolute pants off of every British bigot who helped to spread disinformation about her. The BBC allegedly reported that the IBA said she had high testosterone – which they outright deny in their statement. Open an shut case and there’s precedent for exactly this already via Whtibread.
Get that bag Imane. You deserve it after this crap.
