International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach will make the gesture at an IOC Executive Board meeting in Lausanne on March 28, 2023, where the issue of Russian athletes will be discussed.
Fabrice Coferini | AFP | Getty Images
Algerian boxer Imane Khalif won Saturday’s event and was guaranteed a place on the podium just hours after International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach defended his decision to allow her and fellow boxers to compete. Lin Yu-ting took part in the competition and said concerns about her gender identity were “completely unacceptable”.
During Saturday’s match against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, Khalif seemed to have quite a few cheers chanting her name: “Imane, Imane, Imane ! and waving the Algerian flag.
With Khalif’s latest win, she’s on track to at least win a bronze medal.
Bach strongly defended the two women’s participation in the Olympics and dismissed the boycott as “hate speech”.
“We have two boxers who were born female, grew up as women, have female passports and have competed as women for many years,” Bach told a conference. media briefing Saturday.
Last year, news surrounding Yuting and Khalif were disqualified from competing against women at a global event, but the International Olympic Committee allowed them to compete in the women’s 66kg and women’s 57kg categories. Questions of Ting and Khalif’s gender identity arise. Paris Olympics.
On Thursday, after Angela, the debate intensified further. Italian players Carlini and Khalif quit the match after 46 seconds, resulting in an automatic win for the Algerian boxer. Carini threw only a few punches before stopping the fight and refusing to shake Khalif’s hand. Carini, 25, fell to the floor in tears.
Bach said there was “no doubt” that Yuting and Khalif were both women. Both boxers have been competing in the women’s division with no indication that they are transgender or intersex, which refers to people whose gender characteristics at birth do not strictly fit into the male-female gender binary.
“What we’re seeing now is some people who want to have a definition of what it means to be a woman,” Bach said, adding: “All this hate speech, aggression and abuse… is completely unacceptable.”
Paris 2024 – Boxing – Women’s 66kg – Quarterfinals – Arena Nord Paris, Villepinte, France – 3 August 2024. Anna Luca Hamori competition.
Peter Chibolla, Reuters
At last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, athletes failed the AIBA’s gender eligibility test. Sports officials said both men were disqualified after they failed an unspecified test because they allegedly possess male chromosomes.
The IAB, whose chairman is Russia’s Umar Kremlev, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, claimed the fighters failed unspecified qualification tests . The decision came shortly after Khalif defeated Russian boxer Azalia Amineva, who had never been defeated before.
Khalif, 25, who is making her Olympic debut in Tokyo, said the disqualification was a “conspiracy”.
Her father Ammar Khalif said the attack on the athlete was “immoral”.
“It’s not fair,” he told Reuters recently.
He said that his daughter has loved sports since she was a child and often plays football. Amal Khalif insists she was born female.
“She has made us proud many times, she has honored our country and our flag many times, and she has always made us happy with her results,” he said. “The goal of these critics is to destabilize her, That led to her failure in the wrestling ring, but she is a champion and will remain a champion.”
Carini said after Thursday’s loss that she ended the match with “severe pain” in her nose. She said she was not qualified to decide whether Khalif should be allowed to compete.
Others, including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has often been criticized for anti-trans comments, were quick to criticize the competition and the IOC’s decision.
“A young female boxer lost everything she had worked and trained for by allowing a man to get into the ring with her,” Rowling said. wroteretweeted a video of an IOC official speaking on the committee’s mental health and safeguarding initiatives.
Rowling added: “You are a disgrace, your ‘maintenance’ is a joke and #Paris24 will be forever stained by the cruel injustice done to Carlini.”
Former President Donald Trump wrote on his social media site “Truth Social”: “I will keep men away from women’s sports!”
Others defended Khalif and celebrated her victory.
Algeria’s Youth and Sports Minister Abdelrahman Hamad said: “I strongly condemn the baseless attacks carried out by certain foreign media against our athlete Imane Khalif.” wrote on X.
He slammed questions about her gender identity, calling them a “cowardly attempt to tarnish her reputation.”
Algerian national team footballer Ismael Bennacer wrote that he fully supports Khalif.
“Her performance at the Olympics was entirely the result of her talent and hard work,” he explain on X.
The National Black Justice Collective, a civil rights group that seeks to protect LGBTQ black people, said it stood with Khalif.
“Simply put, Imane Khalif and the other athletes targeted meet the criteria to compete in the Olympics. They should compete like every other athlete who has trained, prepared and qualified to gain the most important place in our sport. Chance.
Non-binary U.S. Olympic runner Nikki Shields is speaking out about transphobia at the Olympics.
“Anti-trans comments are anti-women,” she wrote in an Instagram Story on Friday. “These people are not ‘protecting the women’s movement’, they are simply enforcing strict gender norms and anyone who does not fully conform to those norms will be attacked and vilified.”
Khalif’s next match will be against Hungary’s Ana Luka Hamori on Saturday. The 28-year-old Yu Ting defeated Uzbek player Sitola Turdybekova on Friday and will face Bulgaria’s Svetlana Kamenova Staneva on Sunday.
