Algeria's Imane Khelif (in red) punches Italy's Angela Carini in the women's 66kg preliminaries round of 16 boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Thursday Algeria's Imane Khelif (in red) punches Italy's Angela Carini in the women's 66kg preliminaries round of 16 boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Thursday. Photo: Mohd Rasfan/AFP
What a crazy week it has been over in Paris.
For those who live under a rock and didn’t know, the Olympics kicked off last week. Unlike before, the opening ceremony wasn’t in the main arena, but along the River Seine.
To say it had mixed reviews is playing it lightly. People were just not happy. From the parades on boats to the weather ... a lot of people were just not impressed.
But, the biggest talking point from the opening was the so-called parody of the “Last Supper” featuring drag queens.
Naturally, folks weren’t impressed. Everyone from the president of Turkey, a guy running for president in the United States, and a pastor from Pretoria had a say. The said “forced inclusion” was sacrilege, and the games had become “too woke”.
That whole thing seemed to rumble on for a while, and naturally, the artist who choreographed the whole thing came in for some criticism on X, the artist formerly known as Twitter.
Even after the organisers of the games of the games apologised and explained the whole thing, folks were just not having it. Having a group of people in drag sitting and having a meal around a rectangular table is, apparently, blasphemous and a big “no, no”.
“The Olympic Games, which are meant to unite the world in a spirit of sportsmanship and respect, have instead been used as a platform for blasphemy and disrespect,” said a pastor from Pretoria.
And if you thought that was it for the craziness, everything was dialled up towards the end of the first week when an Italian boxer was punched a little too hard by an opponent and decided to throw in the towel – maybe boxing isn’t the sport for her.
Imane Khelif of Algeria, and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting have found themselves in the centre of a gender row in Paris. Why? Because last year, the International Boxing Association (IBA), performed some unsanctioned gender verification tests, which Khelif and Lin failed.
By the way, the IBA is not even recognised by the International Olympic Committee.
The tests have never been made available, but IBA president Umar Kremlev is reported to have said Khelif was “proven to have XY chromosomes”.
Naturally, idiots such as Elon Musk, Donald Trump and their ilk on X have said that this proves that Khelif is a man, and that she has been made to fight against women due to some “woke agenda” that’s tarnishing the Games.
What does that even mean?
Reports suggest that Khelif is affected by DSD (differences in sex development), a conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs. It is the same condition that affects South Africa’s own Caster Semenya.
Like Semenya, Khelif is a woman, and should only be recognised as a woman.
Thankfully, the IOC have come out and condemned the attacks on Khelif and Lin as “baseless”.
"The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years," they said in a statement.
"The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving. Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination."
They have also thrown their weight and backed the artists behind the Last Supper parody, who have been abused by idiotic trolls online.
Whichever way you look at it, these incidents look like they’re going to rumble on for a long time. Let’s hope that at some point, the sensible voices will start drowning out the idiots.
IOL Sport