This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here . Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey ! Now, here’s Charles Curtis.
Let me start by stating this, loud and clear: Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting are women.
They aren’t transgender. They aren’t men.
It needs to be said. It needs to be repeated. That it has to be presented that way, in and of itself, is part of what made Thursday’s discourse over the Algerian and Taiwanese boxers at the 2024 Paris Olympics so horrifying.
I saw all kinds of misinformation fly across my screen, as did the IOC, which had to release its own, lengthy statement defending these women from baseless attacks.
Let’s see if I can sum it up in the simplest way — you can also read our explainer : Khelif and Lin were disqualified from the women’s world championships in 2023 because of tests given by the International Boxing Association that the IOC called in its statement a “sudden and arbitrary decision,” and they were DQ’d “without any due process.” As many have noted, there was no transparency or details about what test they failed.
The IOC doesn’t recognize the IBA (an organization that USA TODAY Sports’ Josh Peter said was “long plagued with scandal and controversy that jeopardized the future of Olympic boxing”), and therefore these women continued to compete, because — as stated above — they are women.
As Lauren Theisen wrote over at Defector:
Khelif is not trans. This is evident because, according to the IOC , her passport lists her as female, which is something that the extraordinarily repressive Algerian laws would not allow if she were trans. She was, however, disqualified from the 2023 women’s world championships because tests showed she had XY chromosomes, which is possible for cis women with certain conditions.
We also should recognize that in Khelif’s fight against Italy’s Angela Carini, the latter quit the bout because she was hit hard, not because she had a problem fighting Khelif. But that gets lost in the screams on the internet because that always happens. Instead of concentrating on what Carini said — I’ll get to that in a second — we have bad faith actors out there (some of them very famous people) who drown out the athletes themselves.
From ESPN : “I am not here to judge or pass judgment,” Carini said. “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. I just did my job as a boxer. I got into the ring and fought. I did it with my head held high and with a broken heart for not having finished the last kilometer.”
And this is where we get to the part that continues to plague sports and, frankly, our world. This doesn’t happen to men. We don’t question genetics or chromosomes when we see one-of-a-kind men who win in the Olympics. We sit here and oooh and ahhh over wingspan and lung capacity and marvel at the genetics that produce, say, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is known as the Greek Freak, and that’s a positive nickname!
When we begin to question the genetics or chromosomes of women, it’s a threat to women everywhere, both in and beyond sports. This is dangerous discourse not just for Khelif and Lin, but all women because if the world tries to narrowly define what makes a woman, anyone who doesn’t fit an arbitrary standard of femininity could be at risk. As Theisen wrote above, some women are born with XY chromosomes, but that doesn’t mean they’re not women.
This is sick. This is dangerous for the athletes themselves. The world needs to do better.
The Olympic mixed medley relay is must-watch TV
Our Michelle Martinelli is in Paris, covering the Olympics! Here’s here latest story to share!
NANTERRE, France — Bonjour, les gagnants! If there’s any swimming relay you should watch this weekend, it’s the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay . Trust me.
Relays are a blast, and medley relays can be even more fun. But the mixed medley relay — added to the Olympic swimming lineup for the 2021 Tokyo Games — is an absolute riot, requiring the ultimate strategy with two women and two men on each relay team.
Strategy is already tricky with medley relays if a team has more than one standout men’s butterflyers, for example. But when you combine men and women into the event, well, that’s a whole different game.In prelims for the mixed medley relay Friday morning, Team USA’s lineup was Regan Smith (backstroke), Charlie Swanson (breaststroke), Caeleb Dressel (butterfly) and Abbey Weitzeil (freestyle). And it worked out pretty well as the Americans qualified first, .44 seconds ahead of Australia and 1.28 seconds ahead of China.
Smith held her own in the Americans’ heat but definitely didn’t have the lead going against men from China, Greece, Japan and France. Swanson made up a little ground, but it was Dressel who took charge for Team USA. The 27-year-old three-time Olympian surged to the lead against the field with a majority of women butterflyers, and all Weitzeil had to do with a huge lead was hang on — no easy feat when 100 freestyle world record holder Pan Zhanle was anchoring in the lane next to her.
Team USA’s finals lineup will almost certainly change in part, if not its entirety.The point is, if you enjoy Olympic swimming, and especially the relays, don’t miss the mixed medley relay final Saturday, set for about 3:58 p.m. ET.
Quick hits: Simone Biles!!!! … Purple track!!! … and more.
— SIMONE BILES! She rightfully pulled out an iced-out baby goat necklace after winning another gold on Thursday.
— Seems like Biles knew she had won gold about 10 seconds into her floor routine.
— The track in Paris is very purple. I love it.
— Our Robert Zeglinski ranks the 10 best cornerbacks in NFL history.
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