A TORY MSP has been accused of engaging in “ugly and divisive politics” after lodging a motion in the Scottish Parliament about the “safety of female athletes” at the Paris Olympics.
Tess White, a vocal opponent of the Scottish Government’s gender reform legislation, lodged a motion on Monday which mentions the highly disputed failed gender tests of boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting.
What’s the controversy all about?
The current Olympic boxing competition is being run by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after it stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of its status as global governing body last year.
The IBA had been embroiled in controversy for years after electing Gafur Rakhimov, an businessman from Uzbekistan, as its president.
Rakhimov has been the subject of sanctions from the US Government due to alleged criminal activity and is a known ally of Vladimir Putin.
Indeed, US officials claim he has deep ties to organised crime and heroin trafficking, which cast a shadow over his leadership of the IBA.
Rakhimov resigned in 2019 and was replaced by current president Umar Kremlev from Russia, who is also thought to be an acquaintance of Putin.
Kremlev changed the group’s name from the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA) to the IBA and introduced Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom as its main sponsor.
However, the organisation remained mired in allegations of financial murkiness and ultimately lost its status as a governing body after failing to implement suggested reforms.
But the body now claims that Khelif from Algeria and Yu-ting from Taiwan failed gender tests during the 2023 World Championships, which led to their disqualification.
Initially, the IBA did not disclose the nature of the tests or their results but chief executive Chris Roberts said the public could “read between the lines”.
They also appeared to contradict their own statements about testing the athletes' testosterone levels, with Kremlev at one point claiming their testosterone levels were as high as men's despite an IBA statement claiming "the athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination".
However, on August 5 Kremlev told reporters that the tests related to the athletes' chromosomes.
“Blood tests were taken, a gender test was taken – as it was – during the Women’s World Championship in 2022 in Istanbul," he said
"On 17 May 2022, the blood tests were taken by a lab in Istanbul. The results there were issued on 24 May. The results that were brought out were inconsistent, further to which there’s been a number of questions as to why.
“We go to the female World Championships that took place between 15 and 26 March [in 2023 in India].
"On March 17 2023, both boxers were asked to take a further blood test. That happened, and on March 23 the results came through, and it demonstrated the chromosomes that we referred to within the competition rules – that make both boxers ineligible."
It's understood Khelif launched an appeal against her disqualification before withdrawing it.
Meanwhile, the IOC has said that the way in which Khelif and Yu-ting were tested appears to be targeted and did not follow strict enough protocol to be considered legitimate.
"Those tests are not legitimate tests," said IOC spokesperson Mark Adams.
"The tests themselves, the process of the tests, the ad hoc nature of the tests are not legitimate.
"The testing, the method of the testing, the idea of the testing which happened kind of overnight. None of it is legitimate and this does not deserve any response.
"Two athletes tested in middle of the world championships and carted off and tested.
"How are they targeted for this to come about and is it fair and right that two individuals are targeted in this way.... by a federation that is completely discredited?"
Sex testing differs amongst Olympic sports, with governing bodies responsible for drafting their own rules.
However, since the IOC has overseen boxing competitions following the removal of the IBA, the rules on eligibility have not kept pace with other sports such as athletics, which recently tightened its rules on allowing female athletes with Differences in Sex Development (DSD) to compete.
Its current framework seeks to implement an evidence-based approach that demonstrates a "consistent, unfair, disproportionate competitive advantage".
Ultimately, though, the IOC's Paris 2024 Boxing Unit relied on the IBA's previous eligibility requirements drafted after the Rio Olympics, which allowed Khelif and Yu-ting to compete in Tokyo, where they finished fifth and ninth respectively.
The IOC has therefore found itself in an unusual situation of applying previous rules set by the very discredited organisation criticising them, with two athletes stuck in the middle.
What does Tess White’s motion say?
The case garnered attention after Khelif’s match with Italian boxer Angela Carini, who withdrew after just 46 seconds.
Figures such as JK Rowling claimed the match was an example of unfairness in female sport, accusing Khelif of “enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched”.
There is no evidence that Khelif has ever identified as male nor that she was raised as anything other than a woman in her native Algeria.
As a black belt in karate, I know that safety is paramount in every fight. If there are concerns over competitive advantage, the right thing to do is press pause. If there isn't clarity over eligibility rules, women's combat sports will die. My parliamentary motion 👇 pic.twitter.com/GPyheZ78XF
— Tess White MSP (@TessWhite4NE) August 5, 2024
The IOC has refused to countenance the IBA’s allegations concerning the gender tests of Khelif and Yu-ting and allowed them to continue competing, saying they have been provided with no details about the tests.
However, White’s motion “notes with concern the decision” to allow the athletes to compete and quotes hard-right Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni who said the competition between Khelif and Carini “was not an even contest”.
White added: “It is paramount that the IOC should balance inclusion against fairness and the safety of female athletes, and considers that it should urgently review the way that it assesses eligibility for participating in women’s events at the Olympics.”
‘Bigotry and prejudice’
The dispute between the IOC and the IBA has ultimately led to Khelif and Yu-ting receiving streams of abuse online, with many refusing to refer to the boxers by female pronouns.
But Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said White’s motion was typical of her “reactionary dog-whistle” politics.
"It is for the IOC to make its own decisions,” she said.
“There has already been far too much misinformation and prejudice aimed at Imane Khelif over recent days - politicians should not be adding to it.
"A lot of the bigotry and prejudice has been fuelled by cynical right-wing politicians and people who know exactly what they are doing but would rather fight a culture war than celebrate sporting achievement.
"It's no surprise that something this awful is coming from Tess White, who has been all too happy to base her politics on the most reactionary dog whistles while promoting a hard-right Tory party agenda.
"I urge Tess White to think about the impact of her words on gender non-conforming athletes and young people taking up sport, and ask herself if this is really the kind of ugly and divisive politics that she wants to push."
The motion is supported by 11 Tory MSPs and the SNP MSP Michelle Thomson.
