By: Matthew Wang

During the 2024 Paris Olympics, which takes place between July 26 and Aug 11, 2024, the sporting world was rocked with controversy as the boxers Imane Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan were accused of being biologically male, fueled by misinformation campaigns and their disqualification halfway into the 2023 World Championships.

This controversy stemmed from theInternational Boxing Association’s (IBA) decision to bar the two athletes from attending the 2023 Boxing World Championships, a decision that caused the International Olympic Committee to revoke the IBA’s authority over the boxing event in the 2024 Paris Olympics. With the new regulatory body following its own set of rules which notably don’t restrict testosterone levels and only state that gender tests may be administered, Khelif and Yu-ting were both allowed to compete in the event, spurring public outrage.

This controversy reached a new height when on August 1st, Angela Carini of Italy quit her bout with Khelif 46 seconds into the match after enduring a powerful punch to the face. Due to her comment on the force of Khelif’s punch, many in Italy were outraged, claiming that the Algerian should have never been allowed to compete, remarks mirrored by the Italian Prime Minister. However, Carini was steadfast in defending her opponent. In an interview with the Italian news organization Gazzetta, she stated that “All this controversy certainly made me sad, and I also felt sorry for my opponent, she had nothing to do with it and like me was only here to fight.”

Despite the public outrage over the boxing event, the IOC has remind steadfast on its position. IOC President Thomas Bach defended his organization’s positions on the subject, telling reporters that “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman.” Additionally, the IBA refused to disclose the method of testing used to justify the barring of the two boxers outside of stating that it wasn’t a testosterone level test, with the IBA website merely stating that, “This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.” Without a transparent and standardized testing method, there was no way for Olympic officials and the public alike to verify its results or to check whether the tests were tampered with.