On August 1, local time, in the Paris Olympics boxing women's 66kg round of 16, Angela ·Carini, a Italy boxer who was "crisply defeated" in 46 seconds, "knelt" and "cried" after the game, which once again sparked discussions about transgender people's participation in sports.
Angela knelt · Carini in the middle of the ring, tears in her eyes and trembling slightly, then slapped her thighs with both hands, and after getting up, ignoring the reassurance of her opponent Algeria fighter Khalif, she crossed the rope and left the ring, leaving behind a stunned crowd......
Regarding "kneeling" and "crying", Carini said it was to console her father, who she considered worthy of his father's expectations of her, "I didn't get on the podium for Italy". But on the first day of August, it wasn't the kneeling that really put Carini and her opponent Khalif on the global hot search list, but the big discussion about "transgender" (MTF) players after her 46-second "crisp defeat".
Algeria fighter Khalif (red side) punches Italy fighter Angela (blue side)
It all started when 42 seconds into the match, when Khalif hit the bridge of Carini's nose with a straight backhand, who immediately walked to the sidelines, raised his hand to signal a timeout, shouted "Non è giusto" (it's not fair), and then told the coach to call the game out, "[That punch] was so painful that I felt like my nose was bleeding after I was hit." "I've been training with male fighters before, I know the weight of this punch and I know what it means......"
The first person to challenge Harif after abandoning the game was J.K. Rowling, the author of "Harry · Potter", who had previously been caught in the vortex because of her evaluation of transgender people. This time, she has been calling Khalif a "male boxer" on her social media, and even directly characterized the incident as "a man beating a woman in public for entertainment".
Then former United States President Trump also stated on his social media: "I will not support men in women's sports."
Algeria fighter Khalif
All this seems to point to Khalif's "transgender" identity, but Khalif herself does not think so, because she participated in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, but only finished fifth at that time, which did not cause too much controversy, and she also said after the game, "I have been preparing for 8 years, I will do everything to bring back an Olympic medal for Algeria." ”
So who leaked Khalif as a "transgender" identity? That's the International Boxing Association (IBA). At last year's World Championships in New Delhi, both Khalif and Chinese Taipei's Lin Yuting were suspended due to problems after DNA testing. According to TASS, Khalif was found to have the "XY" chromosome in his body — which would be biologically defined as male, according to the TASS news agency.
On August 2, local time, in the top 16 of the women's 57kg boxing at the Paris Olympics, Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yuting defeated Uzbekistan boxer Sitor·a Turdibekova (Sitora Turdibekova) to advance to the next round.
However, the current International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not recognize the International Boxing Association as an organization because of the high level of corruption within the IBA, which was expelled from the Olympic family before the Paris Olympics, which is contrary to the Olympic spirit.
In other words, these tests of the IBA last year will not be recognized by the International Olympic Committee, but no one can change the fact that Khalif and Lin Yuting were banned last year, so there is a continuous fermentation of the Olympic abandonment incident.
Putting aside the grievances between the IOC and the International Boxing Association, the "transgender" incident has now become a topic that the IOC cannot avoid, and the IOC's statement that "only the gender of passports is recognized" has sparked widespread discussion.
In fact, since the day when the Olympic Movement was widely recognized on a global scale, the debate on gender issues has never stopped.
transsexual
Before she got on the operating table in 2013, New Zealand Laurel · Hubbard certainly never imagined that her decision to "change sex" would have such an impact. Eight years later, in 2021, she represented New Zealand at the Tokyo Olympics as a female weightlifter, making her the first transgender athlete in Olympic history.
New Zealand Hubbard became the first transgender athlete in Olympic history to compete in the women's weightlifting 87kg and above category at the Tokyo Olympics
It's just that the years are not forgiving, and at the age of 43 at the time, she failed all three times in the snatch competition, thus ending her Olympic journey.
A former male weightlifter who was New Zealand's youth champion, Hubbard revised its guidelines in 2015 – the IOC's specific rules for transgender female athletes require athletes to identify as female and not change that status for sporting purposes for at least four years. This was followed in 2016 by a new policy that allowed transgender athletes to participate in international events such as the Olympics before undergoing sex reassignment surgery.
Female-to-male transgender athletes can compete directly in men's competitions, while male-to-female transgender athletes are required to undergo hormone therapy to prove that their blood testosterone levels are below 10 nanomol/L for one year – but it is important to emphasize that the reference range for a normal testosterone value for an adult female is 0.7-2.8 nmol/L.
It was this guideline that made Hubbard possible, but scientists have questioned it because it can hardly offset the biological advantages of men who have experienced puberty. Because years ago, a study showed that even reducing testosterone levels to 1 nanomole per liter in transgender athletes would not eliminate the advantage in muscle mass and strength of transgender athletes who were originally male.
United States transgender swimmer Leah · Thomas
Interestingly, just before the Paris Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) formally rejected United States transgender swimmer Leah · Thomas's complaint against FINA's ban on transgender women who have experienced male puberty from swimming at the highest level. Because in June 2022, the Court of Arbitration for Sport voted 71.5% to approve a new "Gender Inclusion Policy", which makes it clear that swimmers who are transgender before the age of 12 are only allowed to compete in women's events.
Perhaps, this policy on swimming can be extended to other projects in the future, with a view to achieving relative equity.
hermaphrodite
Before "transgender" and "transgender", the discussion of intersex people used to be the hottest topic at the Olympics, and this was obviously only one person to discuss: South Africa's 800m athlete Semenya.
Since her smash hit the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Semenya has since won gold in the women's 800m in London and Rio – and it looks like she won, and there were no special rules for an athlete like Semenya in the rules at the time. Even after the media revealed Semenya's intersex identity, the IAAF did not immediately suspend Semenya.
South Africa 800m athlete Semenya
According to relevant media reports, Semenya is a typical intersex characteristic, she does not have ovaries and uterus, the most basic female organs in her body, and there are male genitalia in her body - this is a small probability event in biological evolution, but it does happen.
In 2019, after a gender test, the IAAF recognized Semenya as "biologically male." Semenya has both female and male reproductive organs and can secrete large amounts of male hormones, resulting in three times the amount of testosterone in her body than the average woman.
The IAAF banned Semenya from competing in the women's pentathlon events from 400 meters to 1 mile unless she took drugs to lower her testosterone levels, but Semenya refused to do so, arguing that she was a woman and saying that her excess testosterone was genetic. Since then, she has switched to 200m and 5000m in order to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, but in the end she failed to meet the Olympic A standard.
Go
In the distant 1936 Olympics, Walsh, who was the runner-Poland up in the 100m at the time, complained that Stevens, the champion at the time, had a false gender, but the final identification determined that Stevens was undoubtedly female, and when Walsh died unexpectedly in 1980, an autopsy revealed that Walsh had tiny but non-functional male genitalia and carried the XY chromosome.
Obviously, gender issues have always existed in the history of the Olympic Games, but in this era of more openness, there should be more specific rules governing this issue in each sport.
Mark · Bergs (left)
In recent years, transgender athletes (Brazil Luca ·Kumabara) have been allowed to compete in table tennis, but it doesn't seem to have much impact on this skill-oriented sport, but ·United States Wrestler, who underwent sex reassignment surgery in high school, has been complained about being too aggressive — parents are afraid that their daughter will be seriously injured while playing against "her."
The aforementioned United States women's swimmer Leah suffers the same problem, as a former male swimmer he is mediocre, but after "transgender" he has the power to dominate the pool, but more often than not, those female athletes are not willing to compete with her.
It can be seen that in recent years, the governing bodies of athletics, swimming, cycling and other sports have raised the qualification standards for "transgender" athletes in women's top competitions, the most important of which is to strictly limit the testosterone level of transgender female athletes who can participate.
South Africa exercise physiologist Ross · Tucker believes that equity, inclusion and safety seem to be incompatible on this topic, and what regulations each organization has in place depends on which aspect it prioritizes. However, this also means that it is difficult to stay away from controversy in any choice.
In any case, the issue of "transgender" contestants will continue to be discussed, but it is imperative to develop a set of rules that work and be fair.