The opening ceremony isn’t the only controversy at the 2024 summer Olympic games.
Two boxers who have been previously barred from competing in female competition due to gender eligibility requirements will be allowed to fight women at the Paris Olympics thanks to a ruling from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Stephen A. Smith, host of The Stephen A. Smith Show, to discuss the decision from the IOC and the danger radical gender ideology poses to women’s sports.
Olympic-Sized Controversy
Imane Khelif, 25, of Algeria (above) and Lin Yu-Ting, 28, of Taiwan are scheduled to fight later this week in the women’s boxing competition in Paris despite being barred from similar events in the past due to confusion surrounding their gender.
Both athletes were disqualified from the 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championship in New Delhi, India, by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after chromosome testing came back XY. In case you need a biology refresher, females typically have two X chromosomes and males typically have one X and one Y chromosome.
“Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women,” IBA president Umar Kremlev said at the time. “According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were disqualified from competition.”
Even so, the IOC confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday that Khelif will be able to face off Thursday in the 66 kg weight category and Yu-ting will compete Friday in the 57 kg weight category because “all athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations.”
Mark Adams, a spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee, addressed the controversy in a press conference on Tuesday, stating that Khelif and Yu-Ting’s passports identify them as women and they have previously competed against women — including at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
NBC News reported the IOC updated its rules regarding athletes’ gender eligibility in 2021 to defer to each sport’s governing body and it no longer recognizes the IBA as the governing body over Olympic boxing. Instead, the IOC refers to the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit — “an ad-hoc unit developed by the IOC” — for its eligibility requirements.
Khelif told Algeria’s Ennahar TV that the outrage is part of a “conspiracy” to deny the country a gold medal. But women who have competed against the boxer are on the record saying they were just grateful to exit the ring safely.
Stephen A. Smith Responds
Smith shared that he would describe himself as a “centrist” who is “fiscally conservative” and “socially liberal,” but he said “there are lines” that should not be crossed. “When you talk about women competing against men, particularly in a sport like boxing, it becomes incredibly, incredibly alarming,” he noted.
In his view, it is an issue of safety and also of fairness. “We pride ourselves on fairness. We certainly want to be as fair to ladies as we possibly can. We’re ultra sensitive to it,” Smith said. “You could bring up Title IX, you could bring up issues of domestic violence, and other things that we point out about the inequities that have transpired against women on so many levels, and… then it comes to something like this and we’re not being sensitive to the fact that you’re having ladies compete against individuals who, biologically, were men and obviously had a gender transformation.”
He said trans athlete Lia Thomas ‘transitioning’ from a mediocre swimmer in the men’s division to a dominant swimmer on the women’s side illustrates the problem, but the inherent dangers of boxing poses an additional threat.
“When you’re talking about a sport like boxing where somebody is going to get beaten up by somebody that they’re in the ring with that was born of the opposite sex… what do we say about that,” he asked. “I just know everything about that feels wrong, and I can’t deny that.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Smith by tuning in to episode 851 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.