The case of two Olympic boxers has drawn attention to an issue of great importance to female sports at all levels.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan both were disqualified from the 2023 womens boxing world championships when they reportedly failed gender eligibility tests in 2022.
Now the two boxers have pummeled their way through the bracket of female Olympic boxers, and are slated for semifinal bouts at North Paris Arena. This guarantees each boxer at least a bronze medal, as losing semifinalists share the bronze medal at each weight class.
The controversy here is that the two athletes who failed gender testing in the past were allowed to box as females by the IOC, without any updated testing prior to Olympic competition. The IOC claimed that the previous tests were inaccurate.
The IOC no longer conducts blanket gender verification tests for female athletes but has specific guidelines regarding testosterone levels.
Do you think that some type of gender eligibility testing should be done at the Olympic level, so that female athletes are assured they are competing on a level playing field?