Most people know that the SummerOlympicshavebeen going on in Paris, and have been following the winners. Even though the Olympics is one of the most-watched sports event in the world, it is not without controversy.
One controversy occurred in the women’s boxing event. On August 1, Italian boxer Angela Carini dropped out of a match against Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds. Carini said she forfeited the match because she was worried about her health.
Khelif hit Carini so hard that her headgear became dislodged twice in the 46-second match. Carini refused to shake Khelif’s hand after losing the bout and cried in the ring before exiting it. Carini said in a statement after the match that she quit because of the intense pain she felt in her nose after the initial punches from Khelif.
“I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn't finish the match,” Carini said.
It was initially assumed thatKhelifwasatransgender female who was “allowed” to fight in the women’s division. Carini said the decision to allow Khelif to fight wasn’t up to her.
“I am not here to judge or pass judgment,” Carini said in the statement. '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.”
Therewasanuproarabout the match that caught fire on all of the social media platforms with spectators claiming outrage over the rumor thatKhelifwasatransgender female. Many social media users were calling for Khelif to be disqualified and Carini declared the winner since it’s “unfair that Carini was ‘forced’ to fight a biological male.”
However, as the news emerged, many people were left eating crow when they learned that Khelif is biologically female. Khelif has a condition that makes her body produce high levels of testosterone. This doesn’t mean she’s male, it just means her body has more testosterone than most females.
Dr. Suri Raju V, a urologist, said that high levels of testosterone isn’t just about masculinity.
“Testosterone, often called the ‘male hormone,’ isn’t just about masculinity. It’s a potent anabolic steroid that influences muscle growth, strength, and even red blood cell production,” Raju said. “That’s why it plays a role in sports performance, particularly in those requiring power and endurance.”
In 2023, the International Boxing Association disqualified Khelif and another female boxer, Lin Yu-Ting, for failing “unspecified eligibility tests.” The two athletes were “carted off and tested” during the 2023 Boxing World Championships because “there were suspicions against them.”
Mark Adams, an International Olympic Committee spokesman, defended Khelif and Lin. He said the test was “so flawed that it’s impossible to engage with it.”
“I need hardly say if we start acting on suspicions against every athlete of whatever, then we go down a very bad route,” he said.
After being silent for a few days after the match, Khelif held a press conference to battle bullying. She said the horrible wave of scrutiny she was forced to endure over misconceptions about her gender “harms human dignity.” She pleaded for people to put an end to bullying athletes and said she has been greatly affected by the international backlash she has faced.
“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects,” Khelif said in Arabic at the press conference. “It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”
Even though Khelif faced internet hatred and heat, she is on her way to winning an Olympic medal. With her latest win, she is guaranteed to win at least a bronze medal. Lin is also on track to medal in the boxing event.
Another controversial topic surrounding the Olympics involves Steven van de Velde. The male volleyball player from the Netherlands was convicted of rape in 2016.
In2014, whenthe 29-yearold volleyball player was 19, van de Velde flew to England to meet a 12-year-old girl that he had met on Facebook. The duo had some drinks and slept in a cardboard box because the girl wasn’t old enough to book a hotel room.
After van de Velde flew back home, he advised the girl to get the morning after pill and that was when her parents found out. Van de Velde was sentenced to four years, but only served 13 months.
When spectators of the Olympics learned about van de Velde’s conviction, many of them booed him every time he played. He even opted out of attending the press conference to discuss his past, and stayed in a hotel instead of the village with other Olympians to avoid the prying questions.
His dreams of winning an Olympic medal ended on August 5 when he and his partner, Matthew Immers, were eliminated in Round 16 by Evandro Oliveira and Arthur Lanci from Brazil.
There are multiple other controversies involving the 2024 Olympics. Another one is when French Olympic sprinter Sounkamba Sylla was not allowed to wear her hijab.
She posted on social media about the ordeal, saying she wasn’t allowed to participate in the opening ceremony.
“You are selected for the Olympics, organized in your country, but you can’t participate in the opening ceremonybecauseyouweara headscarf,”Syllawroteonher private Instagram, according to The Associated Press.
French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said she would compromise and allow Sylla to participate in the opening ceremony and the Games. She could cover her hair, just as long as it didn’t appear religious.
This event comes on the heelsofanongoingcontroversy over France’s ruling that prohibits female Muslim athletes from wearing the hijab during the Olympics. While competing for France, the athletes are considered civil servants and must adhere to principles of secularism, according to France’s rules.
In 2023, France’s highest administrative court banned hijabs in the Olympics siding with the French Federation.
Anna Blus, a women’s rights and gender justice researcher at Amnesty International, spoke out against the ban.
“The reasoning it gave was very, very problematic, because it said that these types of bans like the one in theFootballFederation,were legitimate -- the justification could be to avoid clashes or confrontation,” Blus said in an interview with ABC.
“It’s suggesting that clashes or confrontations might occur if someone wears a hijab, and that in order to protect that athlete, she can be banned, and she should be banned from wearing it. It’s extremely problematic,” Blus said.
Basket Pour Toutes, a collective “fighting against discrimination in basketball”, said the argument that the ban seeks to maintain public order “tends to stigmatize a part of the population with is already the subject of numerous prejudices,” according to their website.
The group, which translates in English to “Basketball for all,” said “securalism is not above fundamental freedoms.”
BasketPourToutesposted on their website that supporters of the ban argue the ban against “equipment with religious connotations is based on the priciple of neutraility with itself derives from the principle of secularism. But this duty of neutraility only applies to public service agents and not to its users.”