It’s unscientific to say chromosomes determine whether a person is a man or woman, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach declared Friday when asked about two biological males being allowed to compete in women’s boxing.
“Identifying“ as women, biologically-male Algeria Imane Khelif (middleweight) and Chinese Lin Yu-ting (featherweight) are heading for the Olympic gold medal rounds after pummeling their biologically-female competitors. Last year, both were deemed men when they failed gender eligibility tests and were disqualified from International Boxing Association (IBA) competition.
“What would have been the alternative: to exclude two women from taking part in a women’s competition because of allegations [based on] totally un-credible” science? Bach said Friday at a press conference, when asked about the unfairness and safety concerns of allowing the two to compete as women.
“We had so-called sex tests until 1999, and then science told us that they are not reliable anymore. It does not work as it used to work with regard to the chromosomes,” Thomas said, touting the new method of differentiating male and female athletes:
“[T]his system is working and therefore our decision is very clear: women must be allowed to take part in women’s competitions – and these two are women.”
Thomas added that the current system was developed “in great agreement with everybody.”
“This has nothing to do with inclusion in any way,” Thomas claimed, when asked if fairness and the safety of biological females were being sacrificed in the name of “inclusion.” The real issue is one of “justice,” Thomas said:
“This is not a question of inclusion. That has never, never played a role in all this. This is a question of justice. Women have the right to participate in women’s participation.”
The chromosome metric “is scientifically not true, anymore. Therefore, these two are women and they have the right to participate in the women’s competition. This has nothing to do with inclusion in any way,” Thomas reiterated.
UPDATE: On Saturday, one day after his defiant speech, Bach resigned from his position as IOC chief, with one year left on his term. By Saturday, both female-identifying boxers had won the gold in their respective weight classes.