Donald Trump is once again fueling the debate over gender identity in sports, causing a stir with his comments about Olympic champions Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has once again caused a stir with his latest comments at an event in the US state of Pennsylvania.
Without explicitly mentioning the names of the two Olympic champions Imane Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan, the 78-year-old picked up on the emotional debate surrounding their gender identity.
Trump promised his supporters that he would “keep men out of women’s sports” and claimed that “men who were made into women” had competed in boxing at the Olympic Games in Paris. However, these statements have no factual basis.
In the past, Trump had repeatedly made disparaging remarks about similar debates and described the participation of the two female boxers in Saturday’s games as “crazy” and “demeaning to women”. Three weeks ago, Trump also sharply criticized the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, mainly because drag queens were sitting at a table and re-enacting the Last Supper
French judiciary investigates after massive hostility
The fights between the two boxers had already caused a considerable stir in Paris after they had previously been excluded from the 2023 World Championships due to unexplained gender tests
The International Boxing Association (IBA), which is not recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), had argued that both athletes had not met the required eligibility criteria and had a “competitive advantage” over other female participants. The IOC criticized this decision as “arbitrary”.
Khelif was subjected to a flood of hate comments on the internet in the course of the debate surrounding her participation in Paris. Following massive hostility towards the Algerian boxer, the French judiciary opened an investigation.
The public prosecutor’s office is investigating allegations of sexist cyberbullying, public insult and incitement to discrimination.
