Olympic Controversies 2024

I didn’t see a thread.
The Dutch guy was booed when he came on court. His coach says he’s done his time and should be able to just get on with life now. Nice for him I guess.
The Boxing was quite extraordinary! The Italian competitor said she’d never been hit like that before and was obviously distressed. But the IOC, in a vague sort style I thought, said the other competitor’s passport said Female so 🤷🏼‍♀️ and sort of shrugged his shoulders

Yeah, the Algerian boxer has previously been disqualified for failing gender tests, but it seems like the IOC doesn’t want to get involved. I’ve never really formed any opinion on transgender athletes, but in sports like boxing, where actual physical harm can be done to an opponent, it seems dangerous as well as unfair.

She is not transgender. She was born female and has always competed as a woman. Being from Algeria, she would not have been able to transition, as it is illegal there.
Many women have naturally high testosterone levels - the high end of what is considered ‘normal’ levels for women is higher than the lower end of ‘normal’ for men. Women’s hormone levels also fluctuate more than men’s, due to monthly cycles. 

As for the Dutch VB player. I think it is disgusting the Dutch people allowed him to represent their country, and the IOC allowed him to participate. He served ONE year of a 4 yr sentence, I am sure his 12 yr old victim is still recovering, and this guy has the potential to be around minors at the Olympics. A couple of weeks ago, someone posted on reddit that there are Olympic standards and this ain't it. I have heard he gets booed, and that he literally goes from his hotel, to the game, and goes right back to his lodging. So he is not just roaming around.

If they were to win gold (I have no idea what the chances are), wouldn't they possibly meet their Royal Family? The Dutch Royal family seems pretty popular with their people, so I would expect backlash if they were to meet and congratulate this person. Then again... maybe they

Thanks sueg - I was pretty uninformed about this situation so thanks for the background info 😊

Just a FYI - there was actually a trans person in the Olympic boxing competition. He is a trans man from the Phillipines.

I hate that people keep saying she is transgender. She is intersex. Ugh.

I heard ahead of time that Paris had no back-up plan if it rained and that they basically had to hope for good weather or possibly postpone or cancel events if bacteria levels reached danger levels.

My understanding was that they had spent money constructing larger containment units to try to hold back sewage if it rained, but they could still only hold so much and if the rain was heavy or prolonged it would be a problem.

I think these discussions are going to just get worse TBH and I really feel for the Algerian athlete who is truly in danger in her country for these allegations. The one correction I'd like to make is normal testosterone values for women do NOT overlap with men. The high range is 70 ng/dL vs 300 ng/dL for the LOW range of men (so less than 1/4). As mentioned before there are various reasons for an XX individual to have higher than normal testosterone.

I've felt for a while that to deal with both genetic differences and transgender individuals a typical testosterone level for a period of time may be necessary in some sports where testosterone levels have a large impact on results or safety. I followed the transgender swimmer competing in college closely and you could actually see the impact of her transitioning completely which is why I supported the swimming federation moving in that direction instead of banning all female swimmers who transitioned in male puberty from competing.

My daughter had filled me in on the Dutch rapist and Men's Beach Volleyball is banned in this house.

Love her responses tho. I was following bcz her family was hanging out with Jason and Kylie Kelce also. She's awesome.

Regarding above, the disinformation cycle has no end. I do like the Hungarian boxer's pov tho, she's like bring it, I'll still win.

She is not transgender. She was not assigned male at birth and developed a female identity later. She was assigned female at birth and continues to identify as female. Depending on what is actually going on with her — and there does not seem to be a credible source about what, exactly, it is — it is possibly that she has Swyer syndrome or that she is an example of why sex is complicated. She is not, however, transgender.

Unfortunately, I think the Italian boxer's reaction added to the drama. All of the criticism seems really unfair to the boxers, I feel for them. They're trying to compete in the Olympics, something they've probably dreamed about and trained for years. And now they're the victims of personal attacks and health information and something deeply personal was broadcast worldwide. Certain US politicians are just using them to push their own agendas & propaganda.

More about the boxer and the sketchy IBA which disqualified the Algerian and Tawainese boxers.

www.npr.org/2024/08/02/nx-s1-5061280/olympic-womens-boxing-gender-imane-khelif-lin-yuting

Both Khelif and Lin identify and have long competed as women, but were disqualified from the 2023 women’s world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for what it called failure to meet “eligibility rules.”

Olympic organizers are defending their right to compete in Paris and questioning the validity of those unspecified tests and the fairness of their previous disqualification, which they said happened without due process.

“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure — especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement Thursday.

The conservative outcry started after Khelif won her match against Angela Carini of Italy on Thursday in somewhat dramatic fashion.

Carini quit just 46 seconds into the bout after Khelif’s punches dislodged her chinstrap and bloodied her shorts. After deciding to withdraw, she fell to her knees sobbing in the ring and refused to shake hands with Khelif.

“I have never been hit so hard in my life,” Carini tearfully told reporters afterward.

She said she had stopped fighting because of nose pain, but also said it wasn’t her place to pass judgment on whether Khelif should compete.

“If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it’s not right or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide,” Carini added.

IBA President Umar Krevlev told Russian state media that it was “proven they have XY chromosomes” — which is seen in men, as opposed to the XX genotype of women.

It is medically possible for women to have male chromosomes, in rare cases. Separately, there are a number of health conditions — most notably, polycystic ovary syndrome — that can cause women to produce excess male hormones.

In a new statement released this week, the IBA clarified that Khelif and Lin had not undergone a testosterone exam, but were “subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential.”

“This 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,” they wrote.

The IBA is no longer the governing body of Olympic boxing.

The IOC — which had already overseen boxing competitions for the Tokyo Olympics — officially voted to derecognize it in June 2023, after a years-long dispute over the integrity of its bouts and judging and transparency of management.

Olympic officials took issue with how presidents from Uzbekistan and Russia ran the IBA, as well as the fact that its sole sponsor was a Russian state energy firm, according to the Associated Press.

The IOC has repeatedly defended the athletes’ right to compete in Paris, casting doubt on the process that disqualified them last year and pointing to their female legal identities.

“They are women in their passports and it’s stated that this is the case, that they are female,” spokesperson Mark Adams told reporters earlier this week. Notably, there is no right to change one’s legal gender under Algerian law.

It called Khelif and Lin, whom it did not identify by name, “the victims of a sudden arbitrary decision by the IBA.”

The IOC said it is “saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving,” and stressed the need for National Boxing Federations to “reach a consensus around a new International federation” for boxing to be included in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

On Friday, spokesperson Adams reminded reporters that the IOC stopped blanket sex testing in 1999, and that “even if there were a sex test that everyone agreed with, I don’t think anyone wants to see a return to some of the scenes.” He acknowledged that the situation has become a minefield.

Algeria's Olympic committee is defending Khelif, issuing a statement on Wednesday condemning what it called her “unethical targeting” with “baseless propaganda.”

“Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics,” it added, per Reuters.