VILLEPINTE, France – There’s no doubt that the next time we do this in Los Angeles, Olympic boxing will be different than it was on Saturday: young man from rural Algeria who spent 48 hours in the middle of a international storma voracious media shouting questions as she walked past protected by her coaches, visibly sobbing after winning an important fight, and an Olympic delegation from the loser’s country suggesting in the most diplomatic way possible that they didn’t believe any of this was legitimate.
This cannot happen again.
Imane KhelifThe mere presence here exposed this, the marginalized boxing officials, clinking their vodka glasses in Moscow, made sure of it and the irresponsibility of social media confirmed it.
The management of the IOC of Paris Olympics boxing tournament proved to be a failure. It is a failure of anticipation, communication and clarity, and the consequences allowed the Russians to conduct a psychological operation on the world that would turn each subsequent competition into a witch hunt for genitals and chromosomes.
Despite what is now irrefutable evidence that Khelif was born a woman in Algeria, lived as a woman, and knows nothing about herself other than being a woman, enough of the world is now convinced that she does not belong in the Olympics, that it is impossible for anyone to leave here a winner.
It’s a circus. And with Khelif now just two more gold medal wins away defeating Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary on Saturday, it will only get worse.
Even though she didn’t do anything wrong. Even though there is no evidence that she is anything other than what she says and believes she is.
“We are 100 percent convinced that every match must be decided on the field of play or, in this case, in the ring,” said Balazs Furjes, a senior official in Viktor Orbán’s far-right government who serves as Hungary’s representative to the IOC. “So it was never an option for Anna Luca, nor for me, nor for the committee not to fight.
“We Hungarians are always ready to fight bravely and that is what we just saw. We are a proud founding nation of the International Olympic Committee, we are a long-standing member, a loyal member. Of course, all competitions have their consequences. And like all other competitions, these will be evaluated after the Games. And as loyal members of the (IOC), we are 100% convinced that the (IOC) will make the right decisions. “
All things considered, this was quite measured, given the political benefit in Orbán’s Hungary of claiming foul and shining a light on it for all it’s worth. Even Hamori said he accepted that his unanimous decision loss to Khalif was a fair fight, despite the Hungarians protesting before the fight.
But it’s also not typical for an IOC member to make that kind of statement in the press zone after an Olympic event. The message was unmistakable. The pressure is now on to do something about boxing going forward.
This is where the IOC failed, and most of all, it failed Khalif and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan.
They should know that the International Boxing Association, which was completely kicked out of the Olympics for being a corrupt, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Russian government, is eager for revenge.
Even though the IOC does not give any credibility to the so-called “gender tests” that the IBA used to disqualify Khalif and Lin from their world championships in 2023 – and there are many reasons to be skeptical about the motives of the Russians in administering those tests in the middle of the tournament – they knew this information was available.
If they didn’t foresee that it would only take one punch for this to become the biggest story of the Olympics, given how much anti-trans rhetoric fuels right-wing politics in places like the US and Britain, they aren’t very savvy about the way things work in 2024.
Best guess: IOC officials sat down in their offices in Switzerland and realized that because these two women are not transgender, they are in fact eligible to compete in the Olympics under current standards and have already participated in international competitions without controversy, this would not become a problem. issue.
Oops.
Because the problem with these anti-trans crusaders is that no answer is good enough. They introduced bills in state legislatures wanting to check girls’ genitals before they play basketball or volleyball. But then you have a case like Khalif’s, where it’s very clear that she has female body parts – she father was interviewed on Saturday showing a birth document listing her as female – and they want a chromosomal test. Give them that, they’ll want a full laboratory examination of every strand of DNA in their bodies.
And if you let them win, if you let them think they’re right, they’ll never stop. They’ll want answers about every tennis player with exceptionally broad shoulders, every golfer with a chiseled jaw, or every basketball player who has a suspiciously deep voice.
It’s not just a bad idea, it’s dystopian what’s happening here.
Because you have to understand that it’s not really about justice. Fairness does not exist in sports – never has and never will. Her crusade is about power and an ideology that demands that a woman fit into her idea of what a woman should be.
The IOC’s inability to anticipate all of this, and then being naive enough to think it is possible to placate people who have convinced themselves that purity in women’s sports is the greatest struggle of 21st century civilization, leaves them with two options: find someone who can manage this tournament in 2028 or rid the Olympics of boxing.
As it stands now, they left the door open and the Russians launched a psychological operation through it. You saw what IBA did, didn’t you? They are offering the same $50,000 cash prize for an Olympic gold medal winner for the Italian wrestler to be elevated to hero status among far-right anti-trans warriors in the United States after losing to Khalif.
That’s $50,000 for 46 seconds in the ring, one punch and post-fight drama that set the world on fire.
This was not on the level. It is perhaps the biggest return on investment in a disinformation campaign in the history of humanity.
Now someone has to pick up the pieces.
Maybe it’s World Boxing, a group formed in 2023 in hopes of becoming the new Olympic boxing federation and sanctioning the tournament for 2028. Their statement to USA TODAY Sports is as follows:
“At World Boxing, we put boxers first and athlete safety is absolutely paramount. We have recognized for some time that gender clarity is an extremely complex issue, with significant well-being concerns and deeply held opinions, and our Medical Committee is in the process of examining all aspects of this area so that we can develop a policy that prioritizes the health of boxers and provides sporting integrity, whilst striving to ensure the sport is as inclusive as possible.”
It’s not very specific, but it’s a start.
The last few days have shown that sport has a long way to go, and there are forces in this world that will not stop until every athlete who looks different from what they think a woman should be is the target of propaganda and worldwide scorn.
But whatever they do to fix this broken sport, they need to make sure a scene like Saturday’s never happens again.
This article was originally published on MMA Junkie: Wild controversy surrounding Olympic boxer Imane Khelif should never happen again | Opinion
