Controversy at the Olympics

We've all heard the name of Imane Khelif, a boxer from Algeria who is about to secure her first Olympic medal. Unfortunately, the only argument in this regard is how much you deserve to earn considering “the advantages it has over other participants”. This advantage is that according to fake news, Imane is not a woman “biological”.

This fueled the debate over whether trans people should compete against cis women or men. A debate that has no head or foot here for the simple reason that Khelif is a cis woman: she was born, raised and has always competed as a woman. The problem is not that they think she is trans, the problem is that they do not understand that there is a woman with such talent, with enough strength to win.

In fact, all this started because Angela Carini, her opponent, implied that Imane was not a woman due to the frustration generated by having lost and, above all, having received strong blows in a sport where the point is who hits the hardest, ironic isn't it?

Because of this, all conservatives and transphobes dedicated themselves to rumoring Imane's “biological sex” causing such a wave of hate that even her father had to show the Olympic boxer's birth certificate. Having to be in the situation of showing something so intimate and personal is insulting to Imane's career, who had to suffer several defeats, like anyone else to get where she is.

But then, if she's a woman who has won fairly, what's the problem? That he's not a stereotypical white person.

Imane Khelif's sin is not to be the stereotype of what a woman is supposed to be. But this is not the first time that has happened, Caster Senmeya, Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi are some of the women who suffered the same discrimination and were disqualified from their competencies for exactly the same reason.

Hypocrisy and machismo become even more evident when in sports where men compete this has never been a problem. It has never been questioned how much athletes like Lebron James deserve their recognition, measuring 2.06m, when the American average is 1.76m. Or that Michael Phelps has a genetic condition that gives him longer arms and less lactic acid, giving him an advantage when swimming.

So, here the problem is not whether or not Imane is qualified to compete in her category, because yes she is, she met the necessary exams to compete according to the Olympic committee. The problem, once again, is the discrimination that women have to suffer because they are not what machismo likes to see.

Imane Khelif is a very talented woman and above all, who has worked hard to become a competitor and soon to be an Olympic winner. May machismo, transphobia and discrimination not make us believe otherwise.