Boxer who fought BOTH Olympics gender row stars breaks her silence on controversy that is overshadowing Paris Games
WOMEN'S featherweight world champion Skye Nicolson defended the two boxers caught up in the Paris 2024 gender row.
Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting were cleared to compete by Games bosses despite being dumped out of last year's world championships over failed gender eligibility tests.
Their participation at the Olympics has been attacked by women's rights campaigners and boxers.
But Australian WBC champion Nicolson, 28, says she has fought both women and accused critics of "jumping on the bandwagon.
She said: "I just want to clarify a couple of things. One: I've actually fought and sparred both of the girls. They were born female.
"They were born with an XY chromosome, which is the male chromosome, but they were born with female bodies. They have the physical attributes of a female.
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"They have grown up as girls, as females, as women. They have competed as women the whole time.
"These are not naturally born men who have decided to call themselves women or identify as women to fight women in the Olympics."
Khelif, 25, was disqualified from the 2023 world championships ahead of her gold-medal bout, while 28-year-old Yu-Ting was stripped of her bronze.
Umar Kremlev - the president of the International Boxing Association, who ran the tournament - claimed the tests had proved the athletes had XY chromosomes.
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IOC President Thomas Bach defended the pair's inclusion, saying: "'We are talking about women's boxing.
"We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who were raised as women, who have passport as woman who have competed for many years as women. This is the clear definition of a woman."
Nicolson added: "So at the random world championships when the IBA decided to do chromosome testing, that is when these two athletes were discovered to have XY chromosomes.
"It wasn't a testosterone test, it wasn't that they failed anything like that.
"It wasn't a physical test, they do not have the physical attributes of a male.
"And while it is a bit of a grey area, I think the abuse and the power of the media and people jumping on the bandwagon without knowing all the details is honestly horrible.
"These girls have represented their country on numerous occasions for many, many years now as female fighters and they do not deserve this mistreatment.
"I think they've been unfortunate enough to be in the situation that they're in, then to get all this scrutiny as well."
Olympics gender controversy
THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) stirred up a huge controversy by clearing two women to box who had previously failed a gender test.
Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting were disqualified at the Women's World Championships in New Delhi, India, in March 2023.
Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal after failing a gender eligibility test.
Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Officials found tests showed they had 'XY chromosomes' — which indicates a person is biologically male.
Rare 'intersex' medical conditions, medically known as differences in sexual development (DSDs), can also mean outwardly female individuals can have 'male' chromosomes, or vice versa.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association organised that event but is no longer recognised by the IOC.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: "These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven't just suddenly arrived - they competed in Tokyo.
"The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
"In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level."
Both Khelif and Lin competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women Amateur Boxing Championships.
The IOC said all boxers in Paris "comply with the competition's eligibility and entry regulations".
The controversy follows the famous case of Caster Semenya.
South African middle-distance runner Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She won gold in the 800m at London 2012 and Rio in 2016 but was unable to compete at Tokyo in 2021 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.
Khelif's first opponent Angela Carini quit just 46 seconds into their bout.
She has since apologised for not shaking the Algerian's hand.
Yu-Ting beat Uzbekistan's Sitora Turdibekova on points.
Khelif is fighting in the women's 66kg quarter-finals this afternoon, while Yu-Ting competes in the 57kg category tomorrow morning.
The IBA released a statement on Wednesday stating their decision to disqualify both fighters was made "after a meticulous review."
The IOC responded yesterday in a statement which read: "All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition's eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.
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"Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
"According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO."
Piers Morgan has his say
This is a more complicated case than the barrage of shameful transgender scandals which have engulfed women’s sport in recent years.
Khelif reportedly has a condition called Swyer Syndrome which means she has some female reproductive organs but also much higher levels of testosterone than women.
As a result, she has a superior physicality to females, which can be seen by her tall, powerful frame.
In other words, she has an unfair advantage.
And that’s why there’s been such a furious response, led by JK Rowling, Elon Musk, and Martina Navratilova, to the footage of Carini quitting after being smashed in the face.
The obvious, indisputable, medical, and scientific, truth is that someone born with male biology of any kind has an obvious physical advantage over biological females.
That’s why we keep the sexes apart in the Olympics.
Otherwise, women would barely win a single medal.
To pretend otherwise is to be either utterly deluded or wilfully dishonest.