Science
Olympic boxing controversy sparks fierce debate over inclusivity in women's sports
A Summer Olympics that hoped to champion inclusivity — choosing “Games Wide Open” as its slogan — has become embroiled in loud, angry debates over who should and should not be allowed to compete as a woman.
The dispute has triggered conflicting official statements, pointed comments and unhinged social media posts, all whirling around two athletes in the women’s boxing competition at Arena Paris Nord.
This isn’t about how Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu Ting of Taiwan identify. By all accounts, they were born as women but appear to have unusual body chemistry that triggered gender tests and caused them to be disqualified from last year’s world championships.
The Olympics, however, have broader eligibility rules.
“I think we all have a responsibility to dial down this and not turn it into some kind of witch hunt,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told reporters. “These are regular athletes who have competed for many years in boxing, they are entirely eligible and they are women on their passports.”
His plea has been overshadowed by a Thursday afternoon bout in which Khelif punched an opponent hard enough to make her quit after 46 seconds. Paris has been lumped in the same category as previous controversies involving South African runner Caster Semenya and U.S. collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas.
This case might be more incendiary because, instead of running or swimming fast, Khelif and Lin are delivering potentially lethal blows. Italian boxer Angela Carini said she conceded to Khelif because “I had to safeguard my life.”
Experts wonder if the sports world has reached an inflection point.
“We really have not come up with a consensus on how we define sex,” said Jaime Schultz, author of a new book titled “Regulating Bodies: Elite Sport Policies and Their Unintended Consequences.” “People have to learn how to talk about this.”
Over the last 24 hours, much of the public discourse has inaccurately described Khelif and Lin as transgender. Former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “I WILL KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS!”
Taipei’s Lin Yu Ting, red, takes a punch from Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in the Women’s 57kg boxing match.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
There is no evidence that either boxer is transgender or has chromosomal abnormalities. Though purposefully vague, officials have described what appear to be “differences of sex development,” a designation that applies to women who are androgen-sensitive or have naturally occurring testosterone levels in the male range.
The international track federation used this standard to demand that 800-meter star Semenya either take medication to alter her body chemistry or race against men. She fought the decision, losing in the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland.
Sports have a long and troubled history with gender testing.
Early on, female athletes were forced to disrobe for physical inspections. Chromosome tests came into fashion for a while but were successfully challenged by Spanish runner Maria Jose Martinez-Patino in the 1980s because they could not account for rare conditions.
Though testosterone is now a common measure, there is continued disagreement over its validity.
Italy’s Angela Carini, left, cries after her loss to Algeria’s Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
(John Locher / Associated Press)
“These criteria keep folding under the weight of closer scrutiny,” said Schultz, who is also a kinesiology professor at Penn State. “None of them have held up over time.”
Veterans on the amateur scene, Khelif finished fifth in the 60 kilogram event and Lin finished ninth at 57 kilograms in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The Algerian won silver at the International Boxing Assn.’s 2022 world championships. The Taiwanese athlete earned gold at that tournament in 2018 and 2022.
But last year, the IBA took action against both women.
Khelif was disqualified shortly before her gold-medal bout and Lin after her bronze-medal victory. The IBA stated the boxers did not “undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential.”
The situation grew more complicated when the IOC suspended its recognition of the IBA after years of dispute between the organizations. With the IOC temporarily in control of boxing at the Games, Khelif and Lin have had their eligibility restored.
It came as no surprise when Khelif’s bout on Thursday prompted dueling responses.
First the IBA condemned Olympic officials for letting Khelif and Lin compete, stating: “We absolutely do not understand why any organization would put a boxer at risk with what could bring a potential serious injury.”
The IOC fired back by saying: “Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination.” It further noted the IBA disqualifications were “based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure.”
Algeria’s Imane Khelif, right, walks beside Italy’s Angela Carini after their women’s 66kg preliminary boxing match.
(John Locher / Associated Press)
On Friday morning, when questioned about the Olympics’ apparent struggle with gender rules, Adams said: “There is still neither scientific nor political consensus on this issue. It’s not a black and white issue. And we at the IOC would be very interested to hear of such a solution, such a consensus on this, and we would be the first to act on this should a common understanding be reached.”
Hours later, the media descended on a bout between Lin and Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan. No devastating blows were landed during Lin’s victory, by unanimous decision, after which both athletes walked through the mixed zone without responding to questions.
Khelif’s next bout — against Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary — figures to attract similar attention on Saturday. The Hungarian Boxing Assn. has reportedly protested Khelif’s participation but Hamori did not seem as concerned. “I am not scared,” the boxer said. “If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win. So let’s do it.”
Even Carini, who fell to her knees and cried after losing to Khelif, has been magnanimous. Her comments reflect the complexity of the issue.
“I am not in the position of saying this is right or wrong,” she told reporters. “I did my job as a boxer, entering the ring and fighting.”
WASHINGTON — Amid growing national security concerns, the FBI said Tuesday that it has launched a broad investigation in the deaths or disappearances of at least 10 scientists and staff connected to highly sensitive research, including four from the Los Angeles area.
“The FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and state and local law enforcement partners to find answers,” the agency said in a statement.
The FBI’s announcement comes after the House Oversight Committee announced that it would investigate reports of the disappearance and deaths of the scientists, sending letters seeking information from the agencies involved in the federal inquiry as well as NASA, which owns the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, where three of the missing or dead scientists worked.
“If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to U.S. national security and to U.S. personnel with access to scientific secrets,” Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee, and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) wrote in the letters.
President Trump told reporters last week that he had been briefed on the missing and dead scientists, which he described as “pretty serious stuff.” He said at the time that he expected answers on whether the deaths were connected “in the next week and a half.”
Michael David Hicks, who studied comets and asteroids at JPL, was the first of the scientists who disappeared or died. He died on July 30, 2023, at the age of 59. No cause of death was disclosed.
A year later, JPL physicist Frank Maiwald died at 61, with no cause of death disclosed.
Two other Los Angeles scientists are part of the string of deaths and disappearances.
On June 22, 2025, Monica Jacinto Reza, a materials scientist at JPL, disappeared while on a hike near Mt. Waterman in the San Gabriel Mountains.
On Feb. 16, Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair was fatally shot on the porch of his Llano home. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department arrested Freddy Snyder, 29, in connection with the shooting. Snyder had been arrested in December on suspicion of trespassing on Grillmair’s property.
Snyder has been charged with murder.
There is no evidence at this point that the deaths and disappearances, which occurred over a span of four years, are connected.
A spokesperson for NASA, which owns JPL, said in a statement on X that the agency is “coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies in relation to the missing scientists.
“At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat,” agency spokesperson Bethany Stevens wrote. “The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able.”
Representatives from Caltech, which manages JPL, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sun had barely risen over the Pacific Ocean when a small motorboat carrying a team of Indigenous artisans and Mexican biologists dropped anchor in a rocky cove near Bahías de Huatulco.
Mauro Habacuc Avendaño Luis, one of the craftsmen, was the first to wade to shore. With an agility belying his age, he struck out over the boulders exposed by low tide. Crouching on a slippery ledge pounded by surf, he reached inside a crevice between two rocks. There, lodged among the urchins, was a snail with a knobby gray shell the size of a walnut. The sight might not dazzle tourists who travel here to see humpback whales, but for Mr. Avendaño, 85, these drab little mollusks represent a way of life.
Marine snails in the genus Plicopurpura are sacred to the Mixtec people of Pinotepa de Don Luis, a small town in southwestern Oaxaca. Men like Mr. Avendaño have been sustainably “milking” them for radiant purple dye for at least 1,500 years. The color suffuses Mixtec textiles and spiritual beliefs. Called tixinda, it symbolizes fertility and death, as well as mythic ties between lunar cycles, women and the sea.
The future of these traditions — and the fate of the snails — are uncertain. The mollusks are subject to intense poaching pressure despite federal protections intended to protect them. Fishermen break them (and the other mollusks they eat) open and sell the meat to local restaurants. Tourists who comb the beaches pluck snails off the rocks and toss them aside.
A severe earthquake in 2020 thrust formerly submerged parts of their habitat above sea level, fatally tossing other mollusks in the snail’s food web to the air, and making once inaccessible places more available to poachers.
Decades ago, dense clusters of snails the size of doorknobs were easy to find, according to Mr. Avendaño. “Full of snails,” he said, sweeping a calloused, violet-stained hand across the coves. Now, most of the snails he finds are small, just over an inch, and yield only a few milliliters of dye.
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