Not the “drag” entertainment at the opening ceremony, not the pollution of the Seine River, not the “record-breaking” swimming pool at La Défense. There is only one number left to argue about so far at the Paris Olympic Games: 46 seconds, the number of seconds that Italian boxer Angela Carini lost yesterday to Algerian Imane Khelif. The argument is not about the 46 seconds themselves, but about the context.

Khelif is no ordinary fighter. Along with Lin Yu-ting, she is one of two boxers who arrived in Paris last year based on their testosterone levels after the IBA World Championships organisation excluded them on the grounds that they enjoyed “competitive advantages” over other women.

What happened? The sequence lasts less than a minute and has spread like wildfire across the networks. Within seconds, Khelif lands two powerful punches on her opponent Angela Carini in the ring. The first releases her chin strap. The Italian said shortly afterwards that the second one caused such intense pain in her nose that she threw in the towel. “I felt intense pain. I said enough. I couldn’t finish the fight after the punch, so it was better to end it.”

46 seconds. Not another one. The fight was over in astonishing time, but if there was anything to be seen on the canvas it was the tension; Carini openly avoided Khelif’s bow and cried on his knees. “This is not good,” he muttered, visibly furious, before the referee lifted his opponent’s arm to declare him the winner. Minutes later, speaking to the BBC, Carini would be even more blunt. He regretted yesterday’s fight, which “could have been the fight of my life,” but he decided to end it because “I had to look after myself.”

“I’m here for the gold”. This is the short assessment Khelif left after the fight. In his statements to the British television channel, he only insisted that his goal was gold and emphasized: “I will fight anyone, I will fight anyone.” However, the big fight he will face in Paris is not the one Carini fought yesterday or the one that will measure him with other boxers from now on, but rather the discussion that follows him as an athlete. His physique, which has been going on long before Paris 2024 and has been heated up in the last few days with the statements of Italian officials, including Meloni and Salvini.

The first claimed yesterday that the fight between Khelif and Carini was “unfair” and declared that “athletes with male genetic characteristics should not be allowed in women’s competitions”. The second, Matteo Salvini, went even further and added the hypocrisy of political correctness.

Origin of the debate. The debate about Khelif and Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting actually dates back to before the Paris Olympics. Neither of them is a newcomer to the ring. The former is 25 years old. The latter, 28. Both have participated in the International Boxing Association (IBA) competitions and the Tokyo 2020 games. Moreover, the Algerian reached the quarterfinals in the lightweight category (60 kg) in the Japanese competition and became the first boxer from his country to win a medal in the world championship by winning silver in 2022.

The Taiwanese teammate reached the last 16 in the featherweight category at Tokyo 2020 and has won three medals at world championships, gold in 2018 and 2022 and bronze in 2019. But for a year, both Lin Yu-ting and Khelif were on the candlestick. Especially since the start of the Paris Olympic Games. The reason: in 2023, the IBA declassified them at the World Cup in New Delhi. The international organization also made this decision at a time when Yu-ting won the bronze medal and the Algerian was preparing to compete in the final.

So why did the IBA do this? Due to the situation of both women, the association did not clarify the reasoning and elaboration of its opinion. On the contrary. In March 2023, after the decision was made, the head of the organization, Russian Umar Kremlev, announced that the IBA had expelled athletes from the New Delhi competition who tried to pass themselves off as women.

Kremlev later told TASS magazine: “According to the results of DNAI tests, we identified several athletes who tried to deceive their colleagues and pretended to be women, and it was proven that they have XY chromosomes. These athletes were removed from the competition,” the agency said, without giving more details about what happened or revealing any specific names. Yu-ting did not object. Khelif did so, but withdrew his complaint during the process.

You didn’t give more details? Yes, following the uproar over Khelif and Yu-ting’s participation in the Paris Olympics, the IBA issued a statement this week reaffirming its decision for 2023. The reason: they are neither Taiwanese nor Taiwanese. The Algerian woman met the “eligibility criteria” to compete. “The decision was made after a meticulous review and was extremely important and necessary to maintain a level of impartiality.”

“It is worth noting that the athletes were not tested for testosterone, but instead were subjected to an independent and recognized test, the details of which are confidential. This test conclusively showed that neither athlete met the required eligibility criteria and had competitive advantages over other competitors,” the statement concludes, indicating that there may also be differences between the two athletes. CountryKhelif ruled out in India for high testosterone levels; Taiwanese woman subjected to ‘biochemical test’

No India, yes Paris? It may seem contradictory that Khelif and Yu-ting would be able to skip the World Cup in New Delhi and compete in Paris, but there is a simple explanation: it is a simple matter of organization. And criteria. Behind the World Cup was the IBA. Behind the French Olympics is the IOC, which decided to exclude the IBA from the organization of the latest Olympic tournaments “in the interest of the athletes and the boxing community” – beyond Khelif or Yu-ting. This is also clear in the note published by the IBA.

“We express our concern about the different IOC regulations on these matters, in which the International Boxing Association is not involved, and the inconsistent application of eligibility criteria by other bodies, including those overseeing the Olympics,” the IBA said, “which raises questions about both competitive fairness and athlete safety.”

What does it say in the passport?. Things look different from the IOC, which has stuck to its guns, arguing that both Khelif and Yu-tin meet all requirements to compete in France. With women, of course. “All athletes participating in the Paris Olympics boxing tournament comply with the competition’s eligibility and registration rules, as well as all applicable medical regulations,” the committee responded in a statement released yesterday.

The body also concludes with an important idea: “As in previous Olympic boxing events, the gender and age of athletes are determined by their passports.” Without naming Khelif and Yu-ting explicitly, the IOC also slaps the IBA on the wrist, claiming that last year’s decision was behind the controversy that erupted at the Paris Games.

“An arbitrary decision”“The current aggression against these two athletes is based on an arbitrary decision taken without any proper procedure, especially considering that the athletes have been competing in high-level events for many years.” And as a result, the IOC insists on a clear tone: the rules it applies have already been used at Tokyo 2020 and the eligibility criteria “cannot be changed during the current competition.” Changing them requires following “appropriate processes” and “scientific evidence”.

Argument… and a lot (a lot) of noiseThe mutual accusations between the IOC and the IBA and what happened yesterday with Angela Carini (Yu-ting will compete today at the Paris Arena North) have served to fuel a fierce debate that has reached boiling point on social networks. There are those, like Salvini, who say that Khelif is a “trans boxer”. The magazine reminds that neither the Algerian nor the Taiwanese has ever identified as transgender, male or intersex. TIMEThey are described as women in their Olympic Games files, and IOC spokesman Mark Adams insisted the pair had been competing “for many years”, both actively and passively. “They didn’t just come out of nowhere.”

Salvini’s comment on Khelif is not based on evidence. Mark Adams himself recently said, already in the midst of controversy, that “this is not a transgender issue.” There is another factor that is equally relevant, at least in the case of Khelif, and that some analysts have already commented on: the athlete is from Algeria, a country that imposes restrictive laws on the LGBTQ community, and he represents it. Furthermore, Amnesty International even condemns his government’s support for “a campaign against all products that contain ‘immoral colors and symbols’.”

“Baseless propaganda”The Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) also supported Khelif’s case and joined the debate, openly and strongly condemning the “unfounded” attacks against its compatriot. According to it, these are “slander”, “unethical” accusations and “baseless propaganda”. “These attacks on his character and honor are extremely unfair. The COA has taken all the necessary measures to protect our champion.”

The main discussionThe cases of Khelif and Yu-ting are interesting because they actually transcend both. This isn’t the first time that gender, testosterone levels and intersex have dominated Olympic debates. That happened in the ’80s when former Spanish athlete María José Martínez Patiño was shown to have XY chromosomes after tests at Kobe University showed she had XY chromosomes. “No one, not even a test, can tell you if you’re a woman,” she said. Basque Magazine.

But the most popular case is that of South African athlete Caster Semenya, who has been questioned for her high testosterone levels and whose case has even reached the European Court of Human Rights. At the other pole are those who find it inappropriate for athletes like Khelif to compete with women, such as Australian boxing captain Caitlin Parker. “Especially in combat sports. It can be incredibly dangerous,” she commented recently, in line with Carini’s comments after the fight.

The difficulty of intersexuality. What happened in Paris has once again brought to the table one of the biggest challenges facing the Olympic Games and professional sport in general: how to confront intersex, a condition that exhibits characteristics of both sexes to varying degrees. This is not a simple issue. And it is certainly not a debate between Khelif and Yu-ting. In 2023, the Human Rights Court ruled that Semenya could be subject to “gender discrimination” after the IAAF vetoed some tests because of her intersexuality and testosterone.

One key is the complexity of gender. Sexologist Loola Pérez says: “It is more complex than first thought. The biological binary male/female is not immutable and this is refuted by the phenomenon of intersexuality, which combines the biological characteristics of male and female (chromosomes, gonads, reproductive organs).” an interesting X-topic on the subject.

Voices have also emerged on the networks that focus the discussion on testosterone ranges. In the background is the need for a clear regulation that takes into account a reality that shakes the foundations of the sport from time to time.

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