Gold Medal Boxer Slams “Scary” Decision To Allow Biological Male To Fight Women At Olympics
Women’s boxer Claressa Shields, who won two gold medals for the US in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, has slammed the decision to allow a person who went through male puberty to compete against women at the Paris games.
As we highlighted yesterday, Italian female boxer Angela Carini was pitted against Algeria’s Imane Khelif, a biological male.
The fight ended after only 46 seconds as Carini, in fear for her life, forfeited following two heavy head blows from the clearly stronger and bigger Khelef.
Carini suffered a broken nose and called the incident “unjust”.
Speaking to Fox News, Shields said “I don’t see how the Olympics could have done something like this.”
“I couldn’t imagine getting inside the ring with a biological man,” shields noted, adding “Even though I sparred against a man, but fighting for the Olympics is way bigger than that and so much more on the line to have to go with an opposite gender. Women fight against women and men fight against men.”
Shields urged that Khelif is “much bigger and stronger and it is scary,” adding “when you are born with bigger muscles and neck and you’ve grown up to be a man. You know, he didn’t change genders when he was a kid.”
“So, it is, to me, it is just unfair and I just can’t believe that it is being done and I just couldn’t imagine it happening to me,” the Olympian further stated.
Khelif was previously disqualified from the 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) owing to the fact that he was “found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors,” a statement by the IBA notes.
The organisation also warned that the Olympic committee is guilty of “inconsistent application of eligibility criteria” which is a threat to “competitive fairness and athletes’ safety.”
Shields added “It is very hard to qualify for the Olympics, you have to go through so many different international tournaments, country tournaments, to even make it to the Olympics. So, for me, I can understand her devastation but it shouldn’t be ruined due to a man and I think that the Olympics definitely dropped the ball, you know.”
“I don’t have anything against transgender women or transgender men,” Shields further explained. Adding “All I’m saying is men should fight against men, women should fight against women and transgenders should fight against transgenders. That is how I fell, I will stand with that. I’m not homophobic or anything like that or against the gay community, but that’s not right.”
Another Olympian, Australia’s boxing captain Caitlin Parker has also spoken out against the men in women’s boxing.
In addition, Nicola Adams, who won gold for Great Britain at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, described the fight as “unfair and dangerous”, adding “people not born as biological women, that have been through male puberty, should not be able to compete in women’s sport”.
Also commenting on the ‘fight’, volleyball player Payton McNabb, who was left partially paralyzed by a transgender opponent, described it as “disgusting.”
“It’s disgusting that two boxers who failed gender tests have been cleared to fight women at this year’s Games in Paris,” McNabb told the Daily Mail, adding “There is a biological difference between trans women and biological women that cannot be ignored.”
“It’s dangerous to have the two sexes competing together; it’s just not okay. I am personally disgusted by this. This is morally wrong and evil,” she further urged.
“It used to be illegal for men to beat up women, and now it’s being televised for everyone to see. It’s such a weird reality we are living in now,” she emphasised.
The IOC has defended its position on allowing Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, another biological male, to compete in the women’s boxing category, arguing that the outcry is based purely on the snap IBA decision to disqualify the pair, claiming that did not adhere to “due process.”
“We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” the IOC said in a statement, adding “The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships, and IBA-sanctioned tournaments.”
Khelif is next scheduled to fight Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, who is definitely a woman.
Hamori commented on the upcoming quarter final bout against Khelif, stating that “if he or she is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me.”
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