‘Sexist and racist’: Aussie expert on Olympic gender controversy

With Olympic officials forced to defend the gender testing of several female, an Australian expert has labelled the backlash racist.

A leading Australian expert has defended the Olympic athletes who have previously failed gender tests, describing criticism of their inclusion as “sexist” and “racist.”

It comes as officials in Paris were forced to respond to revelations two boxers involved in the female competition had previously being thrown out of the World Championships.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting from Chinese Taipei were disqualified last year amid questions over their biological sex.

Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-Tang, who reportedly failed a gender test last year.

It has been suggested that Khelif and Lin are not transgender, but are categorised as “DSD athletes”, which stands for “Differences of Sexual Development”, meaning they were born female but have a XY male chromosome and high levels of testosterone.

Dr Catherine Ordway, who specialises in sports integrity, ethics and law at the University of Canberra, said athletes with DSD was simply “part of the beautiful patchwork of the human condition.”

“Part of the reason why elite athletes are elite athletes they are outside the norm. The obvious examples are Ian Thorpe’s big feet, Michael Phelps’ huge wingspan… double jointed athletes who do amazing things in gymnastics” Dr Ordway claimed.

“That’s kind of the point of elite sport. I don’t think it’s right to say DSD athletes have got a benefit that others don’t have, and therefore they should be excluded from sport. That seems to be a really sexist and in some ways… quite a racist statement to be making.”

When pressed on why the criticism was “racist”, Dr Ordway said “there does seem to be many more people that are coming out of developing nations that have DSD… than we are seeing in the Western context.”

Australian boxing captain Caitlin Parker has called for female XY chromosome athletes to be banned from combat sports, describing it as “dangerous.”

The International Olympic Committee has allowed a small number of DSD athletes to compete at these games, including two Zambian football players.

Barbra Banda of Team Zambia, who has been allowed at the Olympics despite reportedly failing a gender test last year.

The pair reportedly also failed a gender test at a leading tournament in 2022.

That has prompted stinging criticism from commentator Lucy Zelic, who said the absence of strict rules was “a slight on the credibility of the organisation and the sports being contested.”

Zelic questioned the Zambian women’s football team’s inclusion of players who had previously been banned for failing gender eligibility tests.

Zambian forward Barbra Banda scored a hat-trick and striker Racheal Kundananji two goals in Zambia’s 6-5 loss against the Matildas.

Both players were banned from playing in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 2022 after “failing gender eligibility tests”. They were allowed to play in the World Cup and the Olympics after football’s governing body allowed teams to conduct their own gender eligibility tests.

Zelic, who is commentating on the Olympics for Nine radio, took to X, formerly Twitter, to “discuss the elephant in the room” about the eligibility of Banda and Kundananji to play in the Olympics.

Originally published as ‘Sexist and racist’: Aussie expert on Olympic gender controversy