Will be skipping
Imane Khelif says he’d just love to come back, the very minute they drop those pesky tests.
Olympic champion boxer Imane Khelif insists
shehas not retired, accusingherformer manager of ‘betrayal’ after he falsely claimedshehad called it a day.Although the gender row fighter will be skipping the upcoming World Championships after the introduction of sex testing,
sheshut down any notion thatshehas stopped competing for good.Nasser Yesfah, who used to represent
her, had been reported in French newspaper Nice Matin as sayingshehad hung uphergloves, which was then denied by gold medal winner.
I don’t know why the Mail calls him “her” at this point.
Since the Olympics, the new governing body World Boxing have confirmed fighters will be required to undergo mandatory sex screening to compete in their events.
Khelif skipped her comeback event in the weeks following the announcement.
Khelif skipped his comeback event.
The president of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst said: ‘World Boxing respects the dignity of all individuals and is keen to ensure it is as inclusive as possible, yet in a combat sport like boxing, we have a duty of care to deliver safety and competitiveness fairness which are the key principles that have guided the development and creation of this policy.’
What does he mean “as inclusive as possible”? It’s not “inclusive” to include a man in women’s sports. Including that man entails excluding that woman, and since it’s women’s sports the woman is being excluded from, that’s not inclusive.
So? Sounds like an easy obstacle to overcome fro our intrepid, definitely female warrior. Just take the test, prove to the naysayers she – SHE! – is female, and prove to the world we are just a nasty pack of haters. Imane and supporters were adamant, so it is already in the bag… right?
Reading the quote in a generous frame of mind, I think that’s part of what he’s getting at–the sport can be ‘inclusive’ about categories that have no impact on safety (such as race, religion, sexual orientation, etc), but cannot apply that same approach to the issue of sex. It’d be better if he said straight-up “Sex matters”, but at least he’s spelling out WHY it matters in this case. It’s still a step towards sanity.
But then the “yet” doesn’t make any sense.
I believe that the ‘yet’ means that he’s allowing for sex to be ignored in sports where ‘safety and competitive[ness] fairness’ aren’t compromised by allowing men to compete with or against women, although I’m not too sure what those might be. Firearm accuracy? Oh, equestrian sports, of course! And mixed-sex crews in rowing.
I’m sure that there must be sports fans here who could think of some more.