PARIS — Overcome with emotion, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif left the ring in tears after a resounding victory this weekend. Khelif has faced days of hateful comments and false accusations about her gender following her first fight against an Italian opponent who quit seconds into their bout. “It’s because she’s African, because she’s Algerian,” 38-year-old Algerian fan Adel Mohammed said Saturday, when Khelif clinched an Olympic medal.
“These comments are coming from white people ...
it’s a kind of racism.” Female athletes of color have historically faced disproportionate scrutiny and discrimination when it comes to sex testing and false accusations that they are male or transgender, historians and anthropologists say. Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting, who won her bout Sunday after similar abuse and questions about her gender, are the latest examples of women of color who have found themselves caught in the contentious debate around gender regulations and perceptions in sports.
More women from the Global South or developing countries are affected by sex testing in sports, said Payoshni Mitra, director of the Center for Sport and Human Rights, a human rights organization based in Switzerland. She has worked with dozens of female athletes across Asia and Africa to fight sex testing practices. “Sport is very Eurocentric — the approach is not necessarily global,” Mitra said.
“We need to accept women in all their diversity. And we are not seeing that.