2024 Paris Olympic Games: Gender debate rages in combat sports

Australian boxing captain Caitlin Parker has called for female XY chromosome athletes to be banned from combat sports, warning a woman could be seriously hurt in the ring.

Australian boxing captain Caitlin Parker has called for female XY chromosome athletes to be banned from combat sports, warning a woman could be seriously hurt in the ring.

Parker’s stance came as a Filipino female fighter, who identifies as a trans man and fought on Wednesday, backed the Aussie skipper as a biological storm rages at the Paris Olympics.

The IOC is under fire for allowing Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-Tin to compete as women in Paris despite failing a gender eligibility test at last year’s world championships.

International Boxing Association boss Umar Kremlev said tests had shown that Khelif and Lin had “XY chromosomes” and were trying to fool other female competitors by pretending to be women.

Yu-Ting was disqualified and stripped of her bronze medal at the 2023 New Delhi world championships by the IBA.

Australia's Caitlin Parker says the gender issues in combat sport can have dangerous consequences. Picture: AFP

Khelif is on course to fight Australia’s Marissa Williamson Polhman in the 66kg class, while Yu-Ting is in the same 57kg category as Bankstown’s Tina Rahimi.

After winning through to the quarter-finals at North Paris Arena, Parker warned of the dangers of DSD athletes competing against women.

“I don’t agree with them being allowed to compete in sport, especially combat sports,” she said. “It can be incredibly dangerous.

“I don’t agree with it, but right now my focus is on getting through each fight and whoever is in front of me, I will get out there.

“It’s not like I haven’t sparred men before.

“But you know it can be dangerous for combat sports and it should be seriously looked into.”

Asked if athletes such as Khelif and Yu-Tin have an unfair advantage, Parker said: “Yes, biologically ... genetically they are going to have more advantages and in combat sports it can be dangerous.

Alerian boxer Imane Khelif has brought plenty of controversy.

“It definitely should be looked into and explored.

“It’s great the conversation is there and I just hope it’s a fair outcome and fairness is what it’s all about.”

Parker’s Australian teammate Tiana Echegaray said she would refuse to fight a man.

“It’s really tricky,” she said. “I don’t know exactly what their circumstances are. I think it’s a case by case situation.

“If you are talking about fighting an actual man, then no, I wouldn’t fight a man.

“In their case I can’t say specifically about them because I don’t know their situation.”

Williamson Polhman fought Khelif at the Eindhoven Cup in May and lost in the final.

Amid the biological brouhaha, footage has emerged of Khelif inflicting powerful blows in a bout in December 2022 against Mexican boxer Brianda Tamara, who later claimed fearing for her life.

This was Imane Khelif fighting in Mexico in December 2022 against a Mexican woman.

Three months later, a test apparently revealed the XY chromosome.

Note the force of the punching.

Imane’s opponent that day, @BriandaTamara, said she certainly did:#OlympicGames#Boxinghttps://t.co/NvltUigCbTpic.twitter.com/8PhfGzJO2F

— teresa smith (@treesey) July 29, 2024

“I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men,” Tamara said.

“When I fought her I felt very out of my depth. Her blows hurt me a lot.

“Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realised.”

Australian head coach Santiago Nieva said: “I understand this issue is not as black and white as many people want to make it.

“We have competed against them before, we have fought them before. We are ready to do that again and beat them.”

Khelif is due to fight Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday.

Adding to the drama at North Paris Arena, Philippines officials angrily denied they were cheating amid allegations Filipino Hergie Bacyadan is a transgender athlete.

Philippines' Hergie Bacyadan is competing in the women’s competiton. Picture: AFP

Bacyadan is in the same 75kg weight class as Australian skipper Parker. Bacyadan lost her round of 16 bout and clarified reports that she had undergone a sex change, saying she is female and has rejected testosterone for fear of breaching eligibility rules.

Bacyadan’s social media account is littered with images of the 29-year-old dressed as a man.

A Filipino translator said: “She is competing in the women’s division but in her heart and mind, when she is outside the boxing ring, is like a man.

“Her tests are all Y so she doesn’t know about other competitors.”

Asked if XY athletes should be allowed to compete against women, Bacyadan said: “In sparring it’s OK, but if they have XY chromosomes in competition, they should abide by the rules.”

In a social media post, Bacyadan added: “I am trans at heart, but I did not take any hormones or steroids to look like a man. If I compete in the women’s division, I don’t think there’s an issue.”