The 2024 Olympics were rife with controversies, but few were as explosive as the one surrounding the boxing gold medalist in 66kg, Imane Khelif. The Algerian fighter found herself at the center of a storm, caught in the crosshairs of a gender controversy that spiraled out of control, far beyond what she could have imagined. The fallout didn’t just impact her—it took a devastating toll on her family, landing her mother, Nasria in hospital, being unable to withstand intense public scrutiny.

It all started with a punch, an immensely powerful one. In her first bout in the Paris Olympics, that derailed Italian boxer Angela Carini. “I have never felt a punch like this,” Carini had said, as left the arena, teary-eyed. That ignited a full-fledged online campaign against Khelif and tell us who was not there! OutKick’s Riley Gaines, to former president Donald Trump to J.K. Rowling, and counting.

But one of the first to launch the attack was probably X CEO Elon Musk. Musk had reshared a post by American swimmer and political activist Railey Gaines where the former had written, “men don’t belong in women’s sports #StandWithAngelaCarini Let’s make it viral.” And it did, with Musk writing “Absolutely” in the caption. That eventually led her to file a cyberbullying lawsuit against Musk that also had Rowling’s name. Imane has not forgotten anything. On a French TV platform, Clique, Imane brought that all up, taking Musk head-on.

In an X clip posted by the official handle of Clique, Imane did not hold back as she said, “Elon Musk was one of the first to attack me during this hate campaign. He posted this video and it was retweeted.” Her answer to this?

“You hate me, but you don’t even know me. You were cruel to me and my family. I don’t even know why you led this attack. You have been cruel to me. Cruel to my family, my mother. At that time, my mother was going to hospital every day,” Imane said, as she fought her tears. “God is my guide, I am a practicing Muslim woman. As I said, I am a Muslim Arabic woman,” Khelif passionately stated, vowing to come back stronger. What we can recall is that Imane’s mother, Nasria, had voiced the same about her daughter’s womanhood.

In an exclusive conversation with the Daily Mail, Nasria had said that her child is her “beloved daughter”. She vowed to give her “unwavering love and support as I have always done since she was born”, adding: “I will always be there for her.” Indeed, the woman has stood like a rock behind her daughter. It was Nasria who supported Imane to take up a sport that is highly dominated by men. She even worked as a school cook to pay for Imane’s boxing training. Alongside her, Imane’s father Amar had also come out to support her.

“My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl. Imane is a girl who has loved sport since she was six years old,” Amar had told. In early August Amar had told Reuters, “Having such a daughter is an honor because she is a champion.” He had also shared a document with the publication, bearing his daughter’s date of birth.

“This is our family official document, May 2, 1999, Imane Khelif, female. It is written here you can read it, this document doesn’t lie,” Amar had said. In fact, as things stand, Imane Khelif has never identified as biologically male, transgender, or intersex, and has always participated in various international competitions as a woman. Then what led to this controversy in the first place?

It was based on their gender eligibility tests last year that the IBA surmised that Imane Khelif is not a woman since she has an XY chromosomal pair, which is the chromosomal pair present in a biological male. She was also disqualified from the World Championships last year after having high testosterone levels and failing the IBA’s gender eligibility tests. But the matter is not so simple since science has some more to add to it.

It has been reported that Imane Khelif suffers from a rare genetic condition called Swyer Syndrome or XY gonadal dysgenesis. According to Osmosis.org, individuals suffering from this condition have “a rare congenital disorder of s*x development.” To put it simply, there is an evident disconnection between a person’s genetic makeup and their reproductive organs in some cases. Here, a person might have an XY (male) genetic makeup, but it leads to the development of a female reproductive system comprising a vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes.

To add to it, even though individuals with Swyer syndrome may develop a vagina and uterus, they do not have the corresponding sex glands, known as the ovaries. Therefore, the affected individual is typically infertile and does not undergo puberty because of improper secretion of s*x hormones like estrogen and progesterone. Probably, this has led IOC to disregard the IBA’s findings and allow Imane Khelif to compete in the women’s category at the Olympics. Notably, it did the same in the Tokyo Olympics as well.

In light of the raging controversy, let us take a look at what the scientific community has to say about the concept of barring athletes with high testosterone levels from competing as females. And the statements might make you think once more.

Science has yet to settle the score in the gender controversy of the athletes

The matter shook up in 2019, when the University of Colorado, Boulder challenged the legitimacy of a 2017 study by World Athletics (then IAAF). Referring to the findings of the study, in April 2018, the international governing of track and field announced some new regulations in April 2018.

It directed female athletes with naturally high testosterone levels to take testosterone-lowering hormones for competing in the women’s category for the 400m, the 400m hurdles, the 800m, the 1500m, and the one mile. The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM).

However, in 2019, a team at UC Boulder, led by Roger Pielke Jr., director of the Center for Sports Governance at the university, published another paper in The International Sports Law Journal. It stated that the results of the 2017 paper were “fatally flawed.” They claimed that as they tried to replicate the findings of the previous study using data from it, they found that 17 to 32 percent of the data used was faulty.

“Any agency, in sport or beyond, should be expected to produce science that can withstand scrutiny and which actually supports the justification for proposed regulations. That simply did not happen here,” Pielke had said on that occasion. Looking at these developments, it seems that a black-and-white answer to the debate is still far away. What is your take on the controversy? Let us know in the comment section.