Australian women’s featherweight world champion Skye Nicolson has defended the boxers at the centre of the Olympics gender row and accused people of ‘jumping on the bandwagon without knowing all the details’.
Nicolson, who won the WBC featherweight title earlier this year, revealed in a video on her Instagram Story that she had fought and sparred with Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting – who are both wrapped up in controversy at this summer’s Olympic Games.
The two female fighters were cleared to compete in the women’s category in Paris despite being thrown out of last year’s world championships after tests allegedly proved they contain male ‘XY chromosomes’.
As a result, their participation at the Olympics has sparked outrage online and in the media, with several high-profile figures hitting out at the decision to let them fight.
Nicolson, though, has stressed that both Khelif and Yu-Ting were born female, while hitting out at their critics for jumping to conclusions.
Women’s featherweight world champion Skye Nicolson has defended the boxers at the centre of the Olympics gender row
Imane Khelif (left) and Lin Yu-Ting (right) were cleared to compete in the women’s category despite being thrown out of last year’s world championships amid questions over their gender
The Australian boxer said in her video message: ‘I just want to clarify a couple of things. One: I’ve actually fought and sparred both of the girls. They were born female.
‘They were born with an XY chromosome, which is the male chromosome, but they were born with female bodies. They have the physical attributes of a female.
‘They have grown up as girls, as females, as women. They have competed as women the whole time. These are not naturally born men who have decided to call themselves women or identify as women to fight women in the Olympics.’
Khelif, who also competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing gender eligibility tests prior to her scheduled gold-medal bout, while Yu-Ting was stripped of her bronze following a similar result.
At the time of their disqualification Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), claimed the tests had proven the athletes had ‘XY chromosomes’.
He added that they ‘uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretend to be women’.
Nicolson, who has fought and sparred both women, stressed that they were both born female
The Australian boxer has held the WBC featherweight title since April of this year
Nicolson continued: ‘So at the random world championships when IBA decided to do chromosome testing, that is when these two athletes were discovered to have XY chromosomes.
‘It wasn’t a testosterone test, it wasn’t that they failed anything like that. It wasn’t a physical test, they do not have the physical attributes of a male.
‘And while it is a bit of a grey area, I think the abuse and the power of the media and people jumping on the bandwagon without knowing all the details is honestly horrible.
‘These girls have represented their country on numerous occasions for many, many years now as female fighters and they do not deserve this mistreatment. I think they’ve been unfortunate enough to be in the situation that they’re in, then to get all this scrutiny as well.’
To fuel even further outrage, Khelif completely dominated Italy’s Angela Carini in her short-lived Olympics opener on Thursday; forcing her female opponent to abandon the bout after just 46 seconds.
Yu-Ting also won her opening bout on Friday, albeit in less brutal fashion after getting the better of Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova on points.
Khelif completely dominated Italy’s Angela Carini in her short-lived Olympics opener
Yu-Ting also won her opening bout on Friday, albeit in less brutal fashion after getting the better of Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova on points
The International Boxing Association (IBA) released a statement on Wednesday amid the Olympics controversy, stating their decisions to disqualify both fighters were made ‘after a meticulous review’.
The IOC then, on Friday, delivered a strongly worded statement in response: ‘All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.
‘Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process. According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO.’
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