Imane Khelif: Olympic gold on the line but gender issue will last well beyond Paris Games

Algerian fights for the women's boxing -66kg title against China's Liu Yang on Friday

Imane Khelif of Algeria celebrates victory over Hungary's Anna Luca Hamori in their women's 66kg quarter-final at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, August 3, 2024. Getty Images

Algeria's Imane Khelif won her quarter-final on Saturday, ensuring at least a bronze. Getty Images

Algeria's Imane Khelif, left, won the women's 66kg quarter-final by unanimous decision. AP

Imane Khelif, left, secured the first Olympic boxing medal for Algeria since 2000. AP

Imane Khelif after her win at North Paris Arena. Getty Images

Imane Khelif defeated Anna Luca Hamori in their quarter-final comfortably. Getty Images

Imane Khelif and Anna Luca Hamori greet each other after the bout. Getty Images

Follow the latest news on the 2024 Paris Olympics

When Imane Khelif set out on her Olympic journey, she will no doubt have wanted any attention to be focused on her skills in the ring.

That has turned out to be wishful thinking.

What should be one of the greatest days of her life – fighting for an Olympic gold medal – has been overshadowed by misconceptions over Khelif's gender, and whether she should be eligible to compete in women's boxing at all.

The vitriol aimed at the Algerian started after her first opponent, Angela Carini, quit their -66kg bout after 46 seconds.

The Italian was on the receiving end of two crunching blows to the nose that would make any fighter's eyes water. Carini refused to shake hands after the official verdict and was in tears as she spoke to reporters afterwards.

Whereas Carini's comments were implicit, her country's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, was damningly explicit, describing it as a fight that was "not on an equal footing", a dog whistle that Khelif should not be able to compete as a woman.

Though Carini would later say that she accepted the International Olympic Committee's decision to allow Khelif into the Olympics, and that she would apologise to her, the damage had already been done.

In the days that have followed, Khelif has spent most of them under intense scrutiny over her gender. Birth certificates have been produced and passports have been verified to prove she was born female. For some, it's still not enough.

There is little point denying that Khelif's physical attributes give her an advantage, but why should she be punished for her own biology and genetics? Her record in amateur boxing is impressive, but not imperial, with 10 defeats in 50 bouts (Khelif's four wins at the 2023 IBA World Championships were later judged no contests after she was disqualified, but more on that in a bit).

Testosterone levels – not XY chromosomes, which is the pattern typically seen in men – are the key criterion of eligibility in Olympic events where the sport's governing body has framed and approved rules.

That's because some women, assigned female at birth and identifying as women, have conditions called differences of sex development, or DSD, that involve an XY chromosome pattern or natural testosterone higher than the typical female range. Some sports officials say that gives them an unfair advantage over other women in sports, but the science is inconclusive.

Testosterone is a natural hormone that increases the mass and strength of bone and muscle after puberty. The normal adult male range rises to multiple times higher than for females, up to about 30 nanomoles per litre of blood compared with less than 2 nmol/L for women.

In 2019, at a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing, track and field’s governing body argued athletes with DSD conditions were “biologically male”.

The criteria for women's boxing in Paris, which is overseen by the IOC, is that her passport states that she is female. This differs to the criteria of the International Boxing Association (IBA), the organisation that runs world boxing but is permanently banned from the Games following decades of troubled governance and transparency.

Khelif and fellow gold medal contender, Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan, were banned from competing at last year's IBA World Championships over eligibility issues.

The IBA said it disqualified Khelif and Lin after an unspecified test "conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors”.

The IBA has contradicted itself repeatedly about whether the tests measured testosterone.

The most famous case involving a female athlete's eligibility is that of South African runner Caster Semenya, who surged to stardom on the track as an 18-year-old gold medalist at the 2009 World Championships.

Semenya, the Olympic champion in the 800 metres in 2012 and 2016, is not competing in Paris because she effectively is banned from doing so unless she medically reduces her testosterone. She is, however, still involved in a legal challenge to track and field’s rules, now into its seventh year.

Though she has enjoyed huge support from the stands whenever she fights in Paris, and is championed by Algerians both at home and in the wider diaspora, Khelif has been pilloried and bullied relentlessly in the media over the past 10 days and become the target for many critics who say men don't belong in women's sport.

That is true in all sports, but particularly in combat sports, where the health of athletes should always be a priority. It may well be the case that Khelif has elevated levels of testosterone that do give her an advantage over other women. But if she was born a woman and is, in actual fact, a woman, why should she be forced to medicate to lower those levels that carry well-known side effects such as weight gain (the scourge of all boxers), fever and nausea to settle a non-uniform set of criteria?

To its credit, the IOC has been unwavering in its support of Khelif. Perhaps it would have been prudent for them, with Khelif's blessing, to release any biological data to settle the argument once and for all.

Come Friday night, Khelif could be the women's -66kg Olympic champion. Lin, who fights in the -57kg final, could be a gold medallist, too. It should be the highlight of their respective careers, the culmination of years of dedication and hard work. Instead, wins will only likely fuel further scrutiny, ensuring the row over gender continues to rumble on.