In the round of 16 match of the women’s 66kg  boxing event at the 2024  Paris Olympics, Imane Khelif (Algeria) easily defeated her opponent Angela Carini (Italy) after 46 seconds. Imane Khelif threw two powerful punches, forcing her opponent to give up.

After the match, many rumors spread that Imane Khelif was a transgender boxer because she showed many biological signs of a man. In fact, last year, the Algerian boxer was disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championship in New Delhi (India) because she failed a DNA test. The organizers discovered the XY chromosome in her genome.

However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) still decided to let Imane Khelif and Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu Ting participate in the 2024 Olympics. This has created a lot of controversy because these two boxers have testosterone levels that exceed the standard for female athletes. Therefore, they have a certain advantage in strength and physicality compared to their opponents.

“In their passports, they are still female. They are clearly marked as women. Testosterone is not a perfect test. Many women can have testosterone at what is called a male level. But they are still women and can compete against women,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams.

There are many cases of women carrying the XY chromosome due to a genetic disorder. This leads to developmental differences in sex development (DSD).

Athletes are born female but over time they may develop male genitalia. Their testosterone levels are many times higher than normal for women.

An example can be seen in the case of Indonesian female volleyball player, Aprilia Manganang. She played for the Indonesian women’s volleyball team for a long time. Later, when she joined the military, Aprilia Manganang identified as male, with more male body parts.

Another case is Caster Semenya, the 800m champion at the 2016 Olympics. However, she was not allowed to participate in the 2020 Olympics due to having abnormally high male hormones.

“There needs to be clarity, no matter how difficult the issue is. Otherwise you face a huge challenge,” said Sebastian Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Therefore, the story of athletes with DSD syndrome is always a controversial topic. Different organizations and agencies will have different regulations on this issue. That is why Imane Khelif is not allowed to participate in the world boxing tournament but still participates in the Olympics.