From Caster Semenya to Dutee Chand, athletes who landed in trouble?over?gender

The Paris Olympics 2024 has run into what many are describing as the biggest controversy in the history of the Games. The controversy was triggered by the participation of Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer in the women's 66kg category.

The 25-year-old secured a controversial win after her Italian opponent, Angela Carini, quit just 46 seconds into the bout. Khelif is one of two boxers competing in the Paris Olympics 2024 whose presence has raised many concerns, including fairness and the safety of athletes.

CREDIT: AP

The other athlete in question is Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting, who competes in the 51kg weight category. The duo has been at the center of a raging gender debate after both were disqualified from the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi after failing a gender test.

While Khelif was disqualified before the final, Lin was disqualified and had a bronze medal stripped away. Medical tests revealed that they had XY chromosomes, making them ineligible to compete as female athletes.

This is not the first time athletes, mostly those who identify as female, have run into trouble with gender issues.

Caster Semenya

The most notable such case involves Caster Semenya, a former South African middle-distance runner who won two Olympic gold medals and three World Championships.

CREDIT: REUTERS

Though Semenya was assigned female at birth, it was later revealed that she has an intersex condition that only affects genetic males with XY chromosomes. Following her 2009 World Championship win, Semenya was forced to undergo a sex verification test. While the results were not officially published, Semenya was cleared to compete again in July 2010.

Racism denied us an Olympic all timer here ? pic.twitter.com/GEplZgkI7D

¡ª SITHALE?? (@SithaleKgaogelo) August 1, 2024

However, the controversy around her gender refused to die down, and in 2018, she was once again in the spotlight after the IAAF announced new rules that hyperandrogenic athletes who have high testosterone levels would be required to take medication to lower it.

Dutee Chand

Former Indian sprinter Dutee Chand was the central figure of another hyperandrogenism controversy that rocked the sports world. In 2014, she was dropped from India's Commonwealth contingent and the Asian Games due to her hyperandrogenism.

CREDIT: AP

She challenged the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), resulting in the IAAF changing its policy on hyperandrogenism and allowing athletes with the condition to compete as females.

Also read: India's First Openly Gay Athlete, Dutee Chand Holds Pride Flag At CWG Opening Ceremony

Santhi Soundarajan

Santhi Soundarajan from Tamil Nadu is another Indian athlete who found herself in the midst of a gender controversy. The middle-distance runner landed in trouble after her unlikely silver win in the 2006 Asian Games.

CREDIT: PTI

Shortly after this, she underwent a sex verification test, and the results indicated that she "does not possess the sexual characteristics of a woman." This resulted in her being disqualified and stripped of her medal.

Olympic athletes that have been accused of being "men" despite being AFAB.
Caster Semenya
Serena Williams
Dutee Chand
Annet Negesa
Imane Khelif
Barbra Banda.

Sure, I guess all those women have ONE thing in common besides their gender and hormone levels... pic.twitter.com/SL7AhgJzLa

¡ª Matt (@FkYeahMatt) August 2, 2024

While Semenya, Chand, and Soundarajan had their gender identity questioned due to medical conditions, another raging controversy in sports is how transgender athletes have been allowed to compete as females.

Laurel Hubbard

In Tokyo 2020, Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, made history by becoming the first transgender woman to compete in the Olympic Games. Despite many arguing that her biological condition gave her an advantage, Hubbard failed to win a medal in Tokyo.

CREDIT :REUTERS

Also read: New Zealand Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard Selected As First Transgender Olympian

Lia Thomas

American swimmer Lia Thomas has also been in the spotlight over her gender identity.

CREDIT: REUTERS

Earlier this year, the 25-year-old transgender swimmer lost a legal challenge and thus failed to make it to the US Olympic team.

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