Gender tests

Gender test: Male women at the Olympics

Lin Yu-ting is one of two female boxers who are active at the Olympics, although the gender test a year earlier prevented them from competing in the World Championships.(Bild: APA/AFP/POOL/Buda Mendes)

Careful, it's getting complicated: It's about two women who were too male for the World Championships last year, but are female enough for the Olympics this year.

Imane Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan are two female boxers. They are competing in the Olympics in Paris this year. Nothing exciting or even headline-grabbing so far. If it weren't for their spicy history. Just a year ago, the two were banned from the World Championships. They had - in fact - failed the sex test of the boxing association IBA: too much testosterone. Therefore no chance of World Championship medals in women's boxing.

IOC approves start
A year later, things look different - for whatever reason. Khelif boxes in the 66-kilo category, her colleague Lin in the 57-kilo category. A year ago they were still too male for women's boxing, but now they are female enough. Why? Nobody really knows. Because the IOC, unlike the IBA, does not publish the results of gender tests. Instead, it has merely announced that the two are eligible to compete.

Imane Khelif at the 2021 Olympic Games. Two years later, she was banned from the World Championships, but this year she is allowed to box again in Paris.(Bild: AFP/APA/POOL/Buda Mendes)

Yu-ting has not yet commented on the matter, but her colleague Khelif has. She told AFP that there was a conspiracy initiated by some circles to avoid having to fly the Algerian flag at the Olympics. The conspirators - if they existed - didn't get away with it anyway. Yu-ting is allowed to compete.

Want to bet that the case will make big waves?