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Blaze News investigates: Gender activism at the Olympics: How many transgender athletes are there?
The Paris 2024 Olympics have been beset by debates about inclusivity and transgenderism since long before they started.
The International Olympic Committee, perhaps seeking to avoid this controversy, officially does not take a position on whether transgender athletes can compete against athletes of their preferred gender, as opposed to the gender they were born with.
"Each international federation is responsible for setting eligibility rules for its sport, including the eligibility criteria that determine qualification for the Olympic Games," the IOC said, per the Independent.
The Olympics officially stopped performing chromosomal tests on athletes in 1999 and decided to push responsibilities onto individual athletic federations. According to the Yale School of Medicine, this was in spite of eight female athletes failing their gender eligibility tests for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Seven athletes had androgen resistance, meaning they were genetically male, and the eighth athlete was revealed to have had his testicles removed. Despite all eight athletes being males, they were permitted to compete in the 1996 Olympics.
Since the abolition of IOC-led testing, different sports have instituted different bans as they see fit.
For example, swimming categories are governed by World Aquatics. Since 2022, the federation has barred transgender athletes from competing in elite events, including the Olympics. However, athletes who completed a gender transition before the age of 12 can still compete against women.
'People have conspired against Algeria so that its flag doesn't get raised.'
Cycling also follows the same guidelines for women's races but also reportedly has an "open" category for those who are transgender and wish to compete.
Rugby and rowing follow similar guidelines requiring gender transitions before puberty, while triathlon, tennis, and archery have testosterone limits for their female athletes.
In spite of the fact that the IOC does not have any official, uniform guidance on what a woman is or who is allowed to compete in women’s sports, that did not stop the IOC from lecturing the media and public on how they should talk about these issues.
Weeks before the games, the IOC published a series of "portrayal guidelines" to discourage broadcasters from using "problematic" language when describing transgender athletes.
The guidelines warned broadcasters of "unconscious bias," "gender stereotypes," and "gender bias," while asking journalists to avoid "words and expressions which could be interpreted as biased, discriminatory, or sexist."
Spectators who have watched might have a different view entirely on what constitutes “discriminatory or sexist” behavior after seeing some of the competitions pit apparent biological males against females in contact sports. For example, in the women's 66kg boxing category, it took just 46 seconds for Italy's Angela Carini to decide that taking a punch from Algeria's Imane Khelif wasn't worth it.
Khelif has been widely criticized after it was revealed that the International Boxing Association disqualified the fighter at the 2023 world championships. IBA President Umar Kremlev said at the time that Khelif had "XY chromosomes."
Carini forfeited the match, breaking down in tears as the winner was announced. She later said that she "didn't give up, but one punch hurt too much, and so I said enough."
Khelif reportedly blamed a "conspiracy" against Algeria as the reason for any gender-related accusations.
"People have conspired against Algeria so that its flag doesn't get raised and it doesn't win the gold medal," Khelif said.
The Algerian Olympic Committee also weighed in, calling claims surrounding Khelif's gender "baseless," according to Fox News.
Lin Yu‑ting of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) is another fighter accused of making a mockery of the sport by unjustly competing against women, fighting at 57kg. The IOC has acknowledged in its internal system (available to journalists) that Lin was stripped of a medal at the 2023 world boxing championships after "failing to meet eligibility requirements based on the results of a biochemical test.”
Image by Blaze News via Bovada/Bodog
The world of gambling has even recognized the apparent advantage, as per betting site Bodog, both boxers are favored to win the gold medal in their weight classes at the time of this writing.
"It is sick and deeply troubling that the IOC is allowing this kind of gender manipulation to take place," former NCAA champion athlete Kaitlynn Wheeler told Blaze News.
Before these fights, a different controversial boxer flew under the radar early on in the Olympics: Filipino fighter Hergie Bacyadan.
The 75kg fighter lost her fight in the round of 16. The difference in this case was that Bacyadan is a female fighter who claims to be a man. Not only that, she says she will never take testosterone and continues to fight in the women's category.
"Will never take [testosterone] and will never be on 'T,'" Bacyadan said on Instagram. "But I still consider myself as a Transman because my heart says so," she added.
'It's meant to humiliate us. Everyone knows this is wrong.'
Those aren’t the only self-identifying transgender athletes competing at the Olympics, either.
For example, Nikki Hiltz is a female athlete who has identified as "transgender and nonbinary" since 2021. Competing in the women's 1500-meter race, Hiltz — who uses the pronoun "they" — has so far chosen athletics over getting life-altering surgeries and treatments.
"Going to the Olympics is such a dream of mine," Hiltz said, according to the Human Rights Campaign. "But it's also such a dream of mine to take testosterone or grow facial hair or have top surgery, and so I think sometimes I can really resent this sport."
Similarly, Canadian soccer player Rebecca Quinn also identifies as nonbinary and transgender, using they/them pronouns. Since 2020, "Quinn" has preferred to be known by only her last name as a substitute for a full name. She has spoken out about her frustration stemming from outlets using her "deadname," which refers to a person's name prior to her alleged gender transition.
"Nearly every publication, including LGBTQ news sources, has used my deadname while reporting my story. The news matters and it's crucial to write about trans people using their name & pronouns. Please do your research, change your headlines, and grow."
— (@)
Zambia's women's soccer team has faced similar controversy during these Olympic games, when players Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji both scored multiple goals against the Australian women, the Guardian reported.
According to the report, it was originally believed that Banda was prevented from playing in the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations after failing a gender eligibility test.
In Kundananji's case, the player was barred from the same tournament for elevated testosterone levels.
However, the Telegraph conducted an investigation and determined that the truth was somewhat more complex.
Instead, the outlet found after interviewing the Confederation of African football that neither player had undergone any gender eligibility tests, but rather both had tested positive for impermissibly high levels of testosterone and were removed from team rosters because they did not wish to take hormone suppressants.
Zambian officials acknowledged to the English news outlet that Banda has abnormally high testosterone levels, and so did at least two other players, including Kundananji.
The soccer players reportedly refused to take the suppressants due to unremunerated side effects.
Comedian Leonarda Jonie, who has been very vocal on the subject, told Blaze News, "It's meant to humiliate us. Everyone knows this is wrong, especially the people who let it happen."
"The powers that be, in this case the Olympics, want you to know that there's nothing you can do about it," Jonie added.
This sentiment has been shared by former Olympic athlete Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner, who simply said, "Men don’t belong in women’s sports, period."
Jenner blamed Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration for destroying Title IX, thus erasing women's sports.
While some sports have taken the concerns of biologically female athletes seriously, it may be another few years before there are significant changes in all governing bodies across the world.
Sports where the advantage of biological men seems obvious — such as weight lifting — are still allowing self-identification to rule as the law of the land, without any restrictions on testosterone levels or age of transition whatsoever. Unfortunately, it may take an incident in combat sports, like the boxing controversies, to turn the tide in biological women's favor.
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