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Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is in the spotlight following his controversial win at Paris Olympics but who are the other African athletes that fell victim to gender eligibility rules?
Debate is still aging following the controversial fight involving Italian female boxer Angela Carini and Algerian Imane Khelif.
Carini quit just 46 seconds into her round-of-16 bout with Khelif on Thursday after the Algerian landed one significant punch.
Last year, Khelif was disqualified from the women’s World Championships in New Delhi for failing a gender eligibility test. At the same tournament, Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting was also disqualified for failing to meet the gender eligibility criteria of the International Boxing Association (IBA).
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09:40 - 02.08.2024
Paris Olympics: Italian female boxer abandons bout with transgender opponent who allegedly failed 'gender test'
The Italian boxer withdrew from the match after 46 seconds and refused to shake hands when the results were revealed.
The IBA did not specify why the boxers failed their gender eligibility tests but did clarify that neither underwent testosterone examinations. Neither Khelif, 25, nor two-time world champion Lin, 28, identifies as transgender or intersex.
The controversy has brought to the fore the debate over athletes who have elevated levels of testosterone competing against other women, which necessitated a rule change in athletics.
Pulse Sports highlights three African athletes who became victims of the gender debate and rule changes that have since slowed down their athletics careers.
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15:00 - 11.02.2024
ATHLETICS Caster Semenya seeks public support for legal battle on Testosterone regulations
South Africa's Caster Semenya has appealed for support in her legal fight against World Athletics' testosterone regulations ahead of ECHR hearing.
Caster Semenya
Thrust in the spotlight since 2009, the South African runner has been the subject of gender debate ever since she won gold in 800m at the World Championships in Berlin 15 years ago.
What followed was a litany of court cases and rule changes that eventually barred her and other athletes like her from competing.
International Association of Athletics Federations (now World Athletics) in 2019 came up with a rule that requires women with high levels of testosterone to take medication to suppress it.
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13:41 - 01.08.2024
Zeddy Cherotich: Kenyan judoka lasts just 20 seconds at Paris Olympics
Kenyan judoka Zeddy Cherotich exited the Paris 2024 Olympics after just 20 seconds following a disappointing loss to her Portuguese opponent in the round of 32.
The rules took effect after two-time Olympic 800m champion Semenya lost a legal challenge against them.
The IAAF maintained that the rules were necessary for fair competition, arguing that athletes with high levels of testosterone benefit from increased bone and muscle strength similar to men who have gone through puberty.
The rules apply to distances from 400m to a mile, and includes the heptathlon, which concludes with an 800m race.
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17:00 - 29.07.2024
Kenya's Alexandra Ndolo reveals next targets after unlucky exit from Paris 2024 Olympics
Ndolo has now revealed her plans after being knocked out of the Paris 2024 Olympics, with the next set of games set to take place in 2028.
For Semenya, the option now is to either take suppressants or compete in distances such as 5,000m or longer but she has since not agreed to either.
Margaret Nyairera
Like Semenya, former Olympics 800m bronze medallist Margaret Nyairera of Kenya was also hit by the new rules.
Since then, she has not been able to compete, saying simply switching to another distance like 5,000m was not possible, with different skills and training needed that would take years to reach elite level.
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18:00 - 27.06.2024
Margaret Wambui: Choosing integrity over alteration in the race of her life
Why Margaret Wambui rejected hormone suppressants while advocating for natural integrity and equality in sports amidst career and financial challenges.
“I am not going to take medication because I am not sick and … those are chemicals you are putting in your body, you don’t know how it will affect you later,” she tokd CGTN in a past interview.
Nyairera feels the idea of having different categories of runners — comparing it to boxing, where heavyweights don’t fight flyweights — might be “a good idea to make it fair.”
That is yet to happen and she has been in the cold since.
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11:10 - 03.05.2024
Former British runner responds to Semenya's claims of treating her like 'less of a human'
Retired British runner has responded to Caster Semenya's claims in her book that she always looked at her as though she was 'less of a human.'
Francine Niyonsaba
Burundian runner Francine Niyonsaba, who won silver in 800m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, has an intersex condition which also saw her fall foul of the rules.
Niyonsaba is one of the athletes banned by World Athletics from competing in women’s races from 400m to one mile in distance because of what they consider to be her body’s elevated levels of naturally occurring testosterone.
Unlike the other two, the Burundian switched to longer distances and even broke a new 2,000m record at a Continental Tour Gold meeting in Zagreb, Croatia, last year, breaking the previous record by more than two seconds.
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12:02 - 01.08.2024
Justin Gatlin snubs Noah Lyles in his Paris Olympics prediction for 100m gold
American sprint legend Justin Gatlin has made a bold prediction for Olympics gold in 100m and Noah Lyles is not his pick.
Niyonsaba has hyperandrogenism, a condition characterised by the natural production of more testosterone than women without the condition.
Meanwhile, Imane Khelif net worth is not widely known, even though her name resonates with determination and excellence in the world of boxing and has been making headlines for her remarkable achievements.
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