The International Olympic Committee is speaking out against the legitimacy related to gender eligibility tests of two female boxers competing in Paris.
The debate surrounds the allowance of Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting who tried to compete in this year’s Summer Olympic Games.
The issue has been rampant for a while now with many calling out the Olympic Committee for allowing them to compete, despite their failing gender identity tests at last year’s boxing championship event.
The International Boxing Association claims their testosterone levels were greater than the benchmarks outlined so they had to disqualify them. However, the Olympic Committee refers to the tests as illegitimate.
Neither do any of these female boxers identify as transgender and neither have been born with a male body. Their certificates at birth prove they’re female at birth and the Olympic Committee fails to make judgments on the IBA’s decision to rule them out.
“Some people with DSDs are raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes, blood testosterone levels in the male range, and the ability to use testosterone circulating within their bodies.”
The IBA told BBC that male XY chromosomes were found in both boxers’ cases and Imane had very high levels of testosterone, leaving them with no option but to disqualify her.