Gender row boxer Imane Khelif should NOT be allowed to fight at Olympics… ‘it’s dangerous and unfair’, says biologist
IMANE KHELIF should NOT have been allowed to compete at the Olympics because it is “unfair and dangerous”.
Human development expert Dr Emma Hilton insists athletes with “typically male” XY chromosomes, like Khelif, should be barred from competing against those who don’t.
Algerian Khelif, 25, is at the centre of a gender row in Paris after her Italian opponent, Angela Carini, withdrew 46 seconds into their bout saying: “It’s not fair”.
Carini, who was left with a suspected broken nose, collapsed to the floor in tears and refused to shake Khelif’s hand after her defeat was confirmed.
The controversy stems from Khelif’s disqualification at last year’s World Championships in Delhi for “failing a gender test”.
She is said to have tested positive for XY chromosomes typically found in males rather than XX chromosomes typically found in females.
Dr Hilton is a Developmental Biologist at the University of Manchester and trustee of charity Sex Matters.
And speaking exclusively to SunSport, she said: “If there is biology that’s going to help you punch someone harder because you’ve got male biology, then you simply cannot have that biology in a female ring.
“It’s not just unfair. It’s dangerous.
“A male-female category is the only way.”
Dr Hilton suspects Khelif has a DSD (Disorder of Sexual Development) which can give athletes sporting advantage in female competitions.
She said: “Babies with some DSDs – not all DSDs – but some, may look female at birth, but are going to experience male development.
“They’re going to be tall. They’re going to grow muscles.
“They’re going to have the typical heart and lung volume of males.
“And this is why in sport we need to think about what that means for fairness for females who can’t access that kind of development because their internal biology is female.”
Asked if prohibiting athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events was the fairest way of categorising boxers, she added: “As a general rule of thumb, no XY (chromosomes) in the female category is going to capture almost every type of body that you don’t want in the female ring.”
Dr Hilton also criticised the International Olympic Committee for failing to deal with the matter ahead of the Games.
They have stopped recognising IBA rules which saw Khelif disqualified last year – and instead set up the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit which has different gender eligibility requirements.
As a result, she believes the organisation is “on the fence” about the issue and have subsequently made confusing comments.
She said: “They make some really quite strange statements suggesting that men don’t have male advantage.
“So they really are quite far away from what I think is a scientific rationale.
“I’m just going to say they moved away from the science into more of the ‘how do we be nice?’, which is fine.
“If they want to take that road, they can. But then we end up with situations like this.
“I really do feel sorry for the athletes and I feel sorry for the women that have to get in the ring with them.”
Dr Hilton was quick to stress athletes such as Khelif have not intentionally broken any rules and she is “not accusing athletes of cheating”.
However, she also believes along with the scientific evidence that the ruling should take into consideration the fairness of competition.
She added: “We’re dealing with competitive sport as a display of human physicality. But we also think about sport in a social context and how it helps people.
“I want everybody to be able to access sport. I just want sport to be fair.”