Boxers Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria were cleared to compete in this year’s Olympics, despite being disqualified from last year’s World Boxing Championships due to failed gender eligibility tests.

And following Khelif's 46-second victory on August 1, some outlets on the right suggested the bout was unfair and pitted a female against a "biologically male" opponent.

What you know about this story likely depends on which sources you've read. And in this case, many aren't giving the full picture and some are fueling misinformation.

Truths Diverge on Khelif's Aug. 1 Fight

Khelif fought Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday, but it didn't last long. 

"Khelif prevailed when Italy’s Angela Carini stopped fighting after 46 seconds," according to USA TODAY (Lean Left bias), which called the fight "bizarre."

USA TODAY said "Carini wept when speaking with reporters after the fight and spoke only in Italian," and that translation "was not immediately available." It added that Carini's coach said "After one punch she feel big pain.'' 

Conversely, Daily Mail (Right) and others did highlight a translation of Carini's remarks:

'I'm used to suffering. I've never taken a punch like that, it's impossible to continue. I'm nobody to say it's illegal. 

'I got into the ring to fight. But I didn't feel like it anymore after the first minute. I started to feel a strong pain in my nose. I didn't give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I'm leaving with my head held high.'

The Daily Mail also translated more remarks from Carini's coach:

 'I don't know if her nose is broken. I have to speak with the girl. But many people in Italy tried to call and tell her: 'Don't go please: it's a man, it's dangerous for you.'  

In its opening lines, The Mail described the fight as “one of the most controversial Olympic bouts ever,” and noted that Carini “fell to the canvas sobbing.”

Multiple sources reported that Carini yelled “this is unjust” as she abandoned the fight.

Similarly, BBC News wrote that “Just before Khelif's arm was raised by the referee, Carini could be heard on camera saying ‘it's not right.’”

Associated Press (Lean Left bias) noted that Carini was tearful in her media availability after the fight, but only that she declined to “pass judgment.” AP made no mention of Carini’s accusations of an unjust bout while still in the ring.

However, AP did note a criticism from Italy’s conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who suggested the competition may have been unjust.

“We have to pay attention, in an attempt to not discriminate, that we’re actually discriminating (against women’s rights),” Meloni said.

In an interview the day after the fight, Carini said, according to a translation of the comments:

"Such a blow I had never taken. When I learned that I was going to fight against her I asked myself some questions, however, I am no one to judge. Did I not greet her? Unintended gesture."

“All this controversy certainly made me sad, and I also felt sorry for my opponent, she had nothing to do with it and like me was only here to fight. It was not intentional, in fact I apologise to her and to everyone. I was angry, because my Games had already gone up in smoke. I have nothing against Khelif and on the contrary if I happened to meet her again I would give her a hug.”

NBC News (Lean Left) reported a translation of comments Khelif made following the fight:

“I address my message to all the people of the world to adhere to the Olympic principles, according to the Olympic Charter, and to avoid bullying all athletes, because this has a great impact and is capable of destroying people, killing people’s thinking and minds, and dividing people."

How Did the Controversy Begin?

According to the AP:

“[The boxers] were removed from their competitions in New Delhi last year at the world championships, run by the International Boxing Association which has been banished from Olympic boxing since before the Tokyo Games.

The different status of Lin and Khelif at the Olympics and worlds is fallout from the years-long dispute between the IOC and the Russian-led IBA over alleged failures of governance and integrity, plus reliance on funding from state energy firm Gazprom.

On the other side, The Telegraph (Lean Right) attributes the controversy to totally different factors:

Algeria’s Imane Khelif, who competes on Thursday, was disqualified by the International Boxing Association over high testosterone levels before a gold medal bout at the women’s world championships. Taiwan’s double world champion featherweight Lin Yu-ting, scheduled to fight on behalf of Chinese Taipei this Friday, also lost a bronze medal in New Delhi over a “biochemical test for gender eligibility”.

Nowhere does The Telegraph mention the Gazprom controversy or the dispute between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA). AP briefly notes that the failed tests involved questions about testosterone levels and “biochemical” balance — but only in the third-to-last paragraph.

Additionally, AP’s article says the boxers were “judged to have failed” the gender eligibility tests, while The Telegraph and others simply said they “failed the tests.” 

AP’s wording and framing – it notes that the IBA is operated by Russia – implies that the “judgment” and tests themselves could have been flawed.

According to NBC:

At the time of their disqualifications, the president of the International Boxing Association, which governs the World Boxing Championships, alleged that the boxers’ chromosome tests came back as XY (women typically have two X chromosomes, while men typically have an X and a Y chromosome).

The IBA has not disclosed the details of the test's specific methodology.

Different Eligibility Criteria

In 2021, the IOC updated rules on athletes’ gender eligibility to defer to each sport’s governing body. The Paris 2024 Boxing Unit, a unit developed by the IOC, has replaced the IBA in setting eligibility standards for boxing.

For most other sports, the IOC relies on international governing bodies. In explaining its decision to use its own ad-hoc unit over the IBA, the IOC said its unit "endeavoured to restrict the amendments [to the IBA rules] to those that increase transparency, fairness and credibility while limiting their impact on the actual sport practice for the Boxers."

Unlike the IBA did for the World Championships, the Paris Boxing Unit doesn’t seem to be employing any gender eligibility tests. In this case, it’s going off of the boxers’ self-described gender identity.

“Everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Tuesday at the daily news conference by organizers of the Paris Olympics. “They are women in their passports and it’s stated that this is the case, that they are female.” 

In 2021, the IOC released its framework on “Fairness, Inclusion and Non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations.” The document emphasized “the need to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their gender identity or sex variations, can practise sport in a safe, harassment-free environment that recognises and respects their needs and identities, and the interest of everyone – particularly athletes at elite level – to participate in fair competitions where no participant has an unfair and disproportionate advantage over the rest.”

The Mail noted an explanation from IBA President Umar Kremlev about Khelif and Yu-ting. Kremlev said the IBA “uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretended to be women.” 

Kremlev said tests “proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded from the sports events," and the IBA said in a statement that they "did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test, whereby the specifics remain confidential."

AP did not mention these comments, and instead prominently noted that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is in charge of Olympic boxing “because the IBA has been banned from the past two Olympics because of years of governance problems, a lack of financial transparency and many perceived instances of corruption in judging and refereeing.”

Where Do the ‘Concerns’ Lie?

AP stood out by only attributing the controversy to questions about IBA’s “alleged failures of governance and integrity,” and not mentioning concerns about whether some transgender athletes have an unfair advantage in gender-segregated sports.

The outlet included significant context on the IBA, most notably that its president, Kremlev, moved much of the Association’s operations to Russia and brought in Russian state oil company Gazprom as its primary sponsor.

AP wrote the IBA “has aggressively seized on the boxers’ presence in Paris to criticize the IOC.”

Meanwhile, fairness concerns were the main angle on the right, with some going as far as describing the boxers as males competing against females.

As if the Satanic display at the opening ceremony wasnt enough, the Olympics glorifies men punching women in the face with the intent of knocking them unconscious.

Imane Khelif is 1 of 2 male boxers fighting women at the Olympics. A woman is going to die. pic.twitter.com/kYJX1MaAw4

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) July 30, 2024

“Watch moment boxer Imane Khelif batters opponent,” begins a sensationalist headline on the story from tabloid The Daily Mail (Right).

“Two boxers who were banned from the world championships for being deemed biologically male have been cleared to compete at the Olympics as women,” the article reads.

NBC, conversely, said “there’s no indication that either identifies as transgender or intersex, the latter referring to those born with sex characteristics that don’t fit strictly into the male-female gender binary.”

The Daily Mail did not include context on the IBA’s ties to Russia, and included ample context on the IOC, but included criticisms most prominently. The Mail included context on the IOC and its governing standards later in its article, noting that its “own testosterone monitoring policies were halted three years ago and replaced with a policy of 'fairness, inclusion and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identify and sex variation.’”

Different Realities

This is an example of how biased media portrays different truths about the same story.

Khelif was born a female. It's been speculated that she suffers from differences of sex development, or DSD. There's no evidence that she identifies as anything other than female. In her home country of Algeria, gender transition treatments are illegal. 

Simultaneously, there is a debate over whether Khelif and others with DSD or related biological disorders have an unfair advantage.

Only reading coverage from AP and other sources on the left and center article may leave you believing the boxers were excluded mainly due to geopolitical squabbling and intolerance, and you wouldn’t hear any concerns about fairness.

Only reading coverage from Daily Mail and others on the right may leave you thinking the boxers present an unfair challenge, maybe even a safety concern, for their Olympic opponents, while not explaining any of the controversy with the IBA and its eligibility requirements.

As always, remember to use the AllSides balanced newsfeed to stay out of filter bubbles and avoid media manipulation.

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Henry A. Brechter is the Editor-in-chief of AllSides. He has a Center bias.

Andy Gorel is a News Editor & Bias Analyst at AllSides. He has a Center bias.

This blog was reviewed and edited by Evan Wagner, News Editor & Bias Analyst (Lean Left bias), and Olivia Geno, News & Bias Assistant (Lean Right bias). 

Updated Aug. 5 with comments from Khelif and Carini and more details.