Dutee Chand then, Khelif and Lin now: When transphobia and racism go hand in hand

PARIS: As the echoes of the latest Olympics begin to fade, a deeper, more troubling conversation emerges – how good can a female athlete of colour be before she is targeted?

The Olympics, the grand arena of dreams, resilience and glory, is often celebrated as the ultimate testament to the human spirit. However, this edition also brought forward an issue that is not restricted to the Olympics or sports but society itself.

The recent controversy surrounding athletes like Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting has laid this unsettling reality out in the open.

Khelif did more than just defeat her opponent, Italy’s Angela Carini, in boxing. The welterweight champion sparked a firestorm. Her victory was not met with applause alone but also with suspicion, doubt and transphobia.

After Carini conceded defeat within 46 seconds, she broke down refusing to shake hands with Khelif sparking the controversy. People wasted no time and took to the internet to question not Khelif’s skill, but her very identity. Carini’s apology was too little too late as the damage was already done.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has continued to support Khelif’s participation despite the backlash, particularly on online platforms. IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said she was “born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport.” He added, “This is not a transgender case.”

Not long after, boxer Lin Yu-Ting found herself trapped in a similar web. Having defeated Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman, Lin became the target of insinuations rooted in the same toxic blend.

Following the defeat, as Kahraman walked back to her side of the ring, she put her fingers together to form an ‘X’, a gesture that was made by Svetlana Staneva as well following the previous round against Lin. Many interpreted this to be a reference to the XX chromosomes of women, which further fueled the raging fire.

The backlash against the duo was rooted in the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) decision to disqualify Khelif and Lin in the 2023 World Championships, claiming they had failed gender eligibility tests. Khelif was disqualified after knocking out Russian boxer Azalia Amineva, while Lin was stripped of a bronze medal. The IBA’s Russian president said the action was taken as DNA tests showed they have XY chromosomes. The IBA also claimed Khelif had high levels of testosterone and Lin did not meet unspecified eligibility requirements in biochemical tests.

But the decision was steeped in controversy as the results of the tests were never published or made accessible to the public. It may also be noted that the IOC had suspended and withdrawn its recognition of the IBA, saying, “The IBA had no involvement in either the qualification for or the organisation of the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and is not involved for Paris 2024, either.”

Targeting athletes of colour

The stories of Khelif and Lin are not unique. Whenever “gender eligibility testing” is used, it is more often than not against women athletes of colour.

South African runner Caster Semenya was sidelined for 11 months due to rules about hormone levels.

Closer home, Indian sprinter Dutee Chand also faced scrutiny and was dropped from the Commonwealth Games in 2014 after reports of elevated testosterone.

Hyperandrogenism causes some women with intersex conditions to produce much higher levels of testosterone than normal. In 2011, the IAAF decided to force those athletes to lower their levels artificially to be eligible to compete, believing that testosterone gave them an unfair advantage. For the 20-year-old Chand, it led to turmoil in her young career.

In most cases, a person having XY chromosomes would be considered a male. However, there are exceptions.

Differences in Sexual Development or DSD is a group of conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs according to the Nation Institutes of Health (NIH). The external features of a person having DSD would not match their genetic makeup. NIH states that some people with DSD are raised as female and may have sex chromosomes other than XX or higher levels of testosterone.

Experts suggest that the only way to confirm if a person has DSD or not is if the ovary and uterus are absent and undescended testes are present in the abdomen.

“Internal genitals need to be identified. This is the absolute basis to find if a person has DSD,” says Dr Mohammed Saheed Saisuddin, consultant urologist and andrologist at LLH Hospital, Abu Dhabi. However, it must be noted that variations in these traits is not the same as being transgender and mixing up the two would be inaccurate.

Elaborating on the topic of DSD and testosterone levels in athletes, Dr Saheed says that higher testosterone levels would give them an advantage. “A person with higher testosterone levels will have more bone strength, more muscle strength and other features often associated with a man such as being tall. This would definitely give them an advantage provided that they have testosterone receptors responding to testosterone and its metabolites,” he said.

But unless the IBA or any other such organisation is able to prove the presence of undescended testes or receptors that respond well to testosterone in Khelif or Lin, all these accusations would remain just that.

People who should have known better

What is perhaps more tragic than the accusations themselves is the mob mentality that amplifies them. The digital age, with its relentless 24-hour news cycle and unfiltered social media platforms, has given rise to a new form of collective judgment.

Comments from the likes of JK Rowling, Elon Musk, and even Italian Prime Minister Meloni have trivialised Khelif’s achievements, reducing her hard-won victory to fodder for the rumour mill. In the name of fighting for women, they have ended up fighting against a woman.

Most of the vile comments were by men who are actively striving to undermine the achievements of a woman. The rampant cycle of misinformation along with the tendency of netizens to jump to conclusions without knowing the full picture has contributed to such comments.

Standing tall

Khelif has filed a complaint in France with a special unit in the Paris prosecutor’s office for combating online hate speech, alleging “aggravated cyber-harassment”. In a statement, her lawyer called it a “misogynist, racist and sexist campaign” against the boxer. Prosecutors can now decide whether it is open for investigation or not.

And yet, despite the storm of negativity, Khelif and Lin stood tall. They did more than just win the gold; they defied the odds, overcoming not just their opponents, but the weight of a world that doubted them. Their stories of triumph over adversity are a testament to the indomitable spirit that defines not just athletes, but all those who fight against the tide of prejudice.

In the end, this is what sports should be about – not just the pursuit of victory, but the quest for dignity, respect, and a world where every athlete, regardless of gender, race, or background, is celebrated for who they are and what they have achieved.