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No transgender women will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. On August 1st, during the women's boxing matches at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif faced Italian Angela Carini, who withdrew from the competition after 46 seconds. This was unprecedented in Olympic boxing. According to the Italian, Khelif's punches felt "too strong." On social media, far-right politicians, anti-rights figures, and other users quickly and falsely accused Khelif of being a transgender woman. This led to days of harassment, disinformation, and transphobic rhetoric. 

This isn't the first time it's happened. Every time the Olympic Games are held, we see how the gender identity of some athletes, primarily women of color and from countries in the Global South, is targeted simply because they look the way they do and don't conform to a hegemonic, cisgender, white femininity , as we discussed in this article from Presentes . Based on this, they are accused of supposedly having an unfair advantage over other women.

Each time, not only is the athlete questioned, but waves of misinformation are generated regarding women who develop high levels of testosterone, trans women, and intersexuality, provoking hateful rhetoric and false information.

Lin Yu-Ting

During these Olympic Games, Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting is also facing scrutiny regarding her gender identity. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), responsible for regulating Olympic boxing, maintains that both boxers are women. 

IOC President Thomas Bach urged during a press conference to stop the hatred stemming from unsubstantiated information and arbitrary eligibility tests conducted by the World Boxing Association, a federation not recognized by the IOC since 2019.

“Both athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category. This is not a transgender case; these are women participating in a women’s competition,” said the IOC president.

Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting participated in Tokyo 2020, the previous edition of the Olympic Games, and during the competition their gender identity was never questioned. Khelif won their first match and lost their second. Lin Yu-Ting didn't even reach the podium.

Now in Paris 2024, Khelif and Yu-Ting have secured an Olympic medal in each of their categories, the 66 and 75 kilograms, respectively.

Disinformation arises without evidence 

The misinformation about Imane Khelif's gender identity came from claims without public and verifiable evidence to this day by the International Boxing Association (IBA) when it applied eligibility tests on Imane and Lin Yu-Ting during the World Boxing Championship held in 2023, from which they were disqualified because it was claimed, without evidence, that according to them "they are men". 

That unsubstantiated information was used on social media and in the media to spread misinformation regarding the gender identity of both boxers, especially Imane Khelif. 

The wave of disinformation that led to transphobic rhetoric was joined by people in positions of power such as Javier Milei, president of Argentina; the businessman Elon Musk; the Minister of Family, Birth Rate and Equal Opportunities in Italy, Eugenia Roccella; the writer JK Rowling, among others. 

On Monday, August 5, during a press conference described by the Washington Post as “bizarre,” IBA President Umar Kremlev and other IBA members claimed to present “conclusive evidence” regarding the gender identity of female boxers. According to the Washington Post's account , “none of the men on the podium provided any evidence. They simply talked. Or at least tried to.”

Why are these female boxers participating in the Paris 2024 Olympics? 

For these Olympic Games, the IBA is not the body that regulates the participation of boxers. That is the responsibility of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC has ensured the participation of Khelif and Yu-Ting, as well as other competitions in the women's 77 kg and 65 kg weight categories, respectively. 

This comes in a context where the IOC withdrew its recognition of the IBA due to opaque financial and ethical issues on the part of its leader, Umar Kremlev, a Russian who is linked to the government of Vladimir Putin and far-right nationalist groups, according to this article from Le Monde .

Kremlev said that the International Olympic Committee is "an entity that promotes absolute sodomy and the destruction of traditional values."

For his part, IOC President Thomas Bach said at a press conference : “We will not participate in a politically motivated culture war (…) What is happening in this context on social media with all this hate speech, with this aggression and abuse, and fueled by this agenda, is totally unacceptable.”

Imane Khelif is not a trans woman

The misinformation not only led to a wave of transphobia but also to misleading opinions regarding testosterone in women, gender identity, and the body, especially concerning the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif.  

The false claim that Khelif is a trans woman is untenable. If she were a trans woman, she would surely be persecuted by her own country's authorities. In Algeria, homosexuality is criminalized , there is no legal recognition of transgender identity, and there are no laws protecting LGBTI+ populations, as indicated by the database of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.

Furthermore, there was discussion about her appearance and body; some media outlets and social media platforms claimed without evidence that she is an intersex woman. This information has not been confirmed by the athlete. 

It is important to remember that intersexuality is not a pathology, it is not a gender identity, and it is not "a third sex." Intersexuality is a form of bodily diversity , and women born with variations in sex characteristics are also women.

High testosterone levels do not mean you are trans.

Without evidence, there was also talk of his alleged "high levels" of testosterone, information that has not been revealed by either the International Boxing Association or the International Olympic Committee. 

It's important to mention that testosterone is a hormone produced by the human body. It's not exclusive to men nor restricted to women. Testosterone is a hormone necessary for the healthy functioning of the body. 

Furthermore, a woman who naturally develops high testosterone levels is not the same as a trans woman. According to this article from the Harvard Medical School journal, “the most common cause of high testosterone levels in women is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This condition is common, affecting between 6% and 10% of premenopausal women.”

However, it is trans women, intersex women, and those who naturally develop high levels of testosterone who are subject to rules that seek to "guarantee" that competition is "fair" in the female categories of some sports at the world and Olympic levels. 

Since 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has considered the alleged "unfair advantage" of testosterone in the body to lack conclusive scientific basis and published a new "framework on equity, inclusion and non-discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and sex variations," emphasizing the guarantee of athletes' human rights in the eligibility criteria for women's categories. Historically, these criteria have never been applied to men.