Since women started competing in elite athletics about 100 years ago, they have been subjected to questions over their sex, had to undergo humiliating sex eligibility tests and had careers ruined.
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Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif is fighting more than just her Hungarian counterpart in the ring Saturday.
She’s now fighting to defend her career as a female athlete amid conservative accusations that she and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting are not women. Both athletes identify as women and have long competed in boxing as female athletes.
Questions arose after the International Boxing Association said both athletes were disqualified from the IBA’s 2023 world championships after failing eligibility tests.
It’s the latest controversy in a long history of female athletes being questioned over their sex.
“This whole spectacle is not unique to the Paris Olympics,” said Payoshni Mitra, the executive director of Humans of Sport, which supports athletes with sex variation.
Here’s a look at the current controversy and the history of sex testing.
A complicated question
Since women started competing in elite athletics about 100 years ago, they have been subjected to questions over their sex, had to undergo humiliating sex eligibility tests and had careers ruined.
Lin and Khelif’s case underscores how “women coming from global south countries are often the ones being targeted”, said Mitra.
The IBA said the tests indicated the two “were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.” The IBA did not respond to NPR’s questions and is not providing documentation of the tests.
Human rights advocates say these exams “discriminate against women on the basis of their sex, their sex characteristics, and their gender expression” and violate the right to privacy, dignity, health and non-discrimination, a 2020 report from Human Rights Watch said. Mitra was a co-author on this report.
For more about sex testing in elite women’s sports, check out the new podcast Tested, from NPR and the CBC.
