My thoughts on today's boxing match in Paris

If you haven't heard, Imane Khelif forced female opponent Angela Carini to quit the fight after 46 seconds

Boxer Imane Khelif, who failed the sex eligibility test at World Championships last year, just won a fight against Italy's Angela Carini. The controversial bout ended in 46 seconds when Carini threw her helmet to the ground and shouted “This is unjust.”

Carini refused to shake hands with Khelif after stopping the match because of a blow to the nose. She said:

“I've never taken a punch like that, it's impossible to continue. I got into the ring to fight. But I didn't feel like it anymore after the first minute. I started to feel a strong pain in my nose. I didn't give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough”

She went on to say: “It’s not up to me to say if it’s fair or not fair, I just did my job.”

She’s right, it’s not up to the athletes. It’s up to the sports’ governing bodies. And they are failing.

Before the fight, International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson Mark Adams said: “They are women in their passports” referring to the two boxers (Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan) who failed the sex eligibility test at Worlds and are allowed to compete in Paris in the women’s category.

Adams goes on to say that “it’s not helpful to start stigmatizing people who take part in sport [. . .] we all have a responsibility to dial this down and not turn it into some kind of witch hunt.”

It’s not a witch hunt. The witches weren’t actually witches. There is no such thing as a witch, in fact. But these boxers are male. And lying about that or pretending it isn’t the case is what’s stigmatizing. Lying to hide the truth creates shame. And sunlight is the best shame disinfectant.

Maybe we need to be honest about who these boxers are and have them compete in the category that aligns with their genetic reality, to avoid stigmatizing. And to protect women.

I know these boxers likely live as women due to a DSD (Difference of Sex Development), but that doesn’t make them less biologically male. Which is what makes it unfair and unsafe for women.

Sports aren’t about validating anyone’s identity or “lived experience.” Sports are about competition. And governing bodies are responsible for ensuring that the competition is as safe and fair as possible. This match was not that.

Carini dropped out before a serious injury. Do we need to see a female boxer beaten to a pulp, sustaining a traumatic brain injury or worse, dying at the hands of a male boxer, before common sense kicks in? What will it take for the IOC and all the other sport governing bodies to do the right and sensible thing? When will they stop being afraid of provoking the ideological gender bullies and stand up for female athletes, who deserve a safe and fair fight in the arena?

When I competed at the gymnastics World Championships in 1985 and broke my femur after falling from the uneven bars on my last event, the Federation of International Gymnastics (FIG) did the right thing and changed the rules almost instantly, to allow a coach near the equipment while an athlete is competing. Gymnastics governing bodies are not known for doing the right thing. Evidence suggests that USA Gymnastics destroyed evidence of Larry Nassar’s abuse to avoid what became one of the biggest scandals in American sports history. But in this case, FIG did do the right thing — having a spotter close by to help a gymnast when something goes wrong has saved countless athletes from serious injury since the rule changed.

It is ironic, of course, that this boxing match-up happened on the day that the Biden administration’s re-write of Title IX goes live. The re-write expands sex-based rights to “gender identity” in the US education system. Which means, an athlete’s “gender identity” — or what’s on their passport — must be taken as true. It means males can compete against females in colleges and high schools across the country. It means what we witnessed today in Paris is coming to a high school sporting event near you.

We will get to the right answer. Truth will dictate that we do, eventually. And males competing against females in any sport — let alone a combat one where serious injury is already a significant possibility in every competition — is patently unfair and dangerous.

This madness will end. And it ends when the athletes themselves say NO MORE. I’m begging female athletes around the world to do this before someone is permanently and seriously injured. Let’s not wait for a female athlete to die at the hands of a more powerful male athlete to do the right thing.

As I’ve said many times, the governing bodies won’t do the right thing unless they are forced to. Competing athletes are the ones that have the power to end this.

It’s why we announced today — of all days! — the XX-XY Athletics Fund and the Courage Wins Award. The video below will tell you more about it. But know that every purchase of XX-XY Athletics supports the Fund.

We are putting our money where our mouth is. And so should you.

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