International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has thrown his weight behind Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting's participation in the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics over gender row. Bach has called out the hate speech ravaging over the social media, deeming it unacceptable and that the argument that they are not women is unacceptable.
Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting had been stripped off a bronze medal during the last year's World Championship after failing a gender eligibility test. The controversy regarding Khelif erupted during the match against Angela Carini in the women's boxing 66 KG category when the latter called off the fight only after 46 seconds of starting the game. The Algerian Boxer had faced disqualification from 2023's World Championships for failing to fulfil the eligibility criteria.
The match sparked widespread backlash from the fans, who questioned the clearance given to Khelif to compete against Carini.
"Totally unacceptable" - Thomas Bach on the social media abuse
Bach questioned that it's baffling to see people question their gender despite being born a woman, raised as one, and having a passport too. He also refused to take part in any 'politically and culturally motivated war'.
"What we see now is that some want to own the definition of who is a woman. And there I can only invite them to come up with a scientific based a new definition of who is a woman. And how can somebody be born, raised, compete and have a passport, as a woman cannot be considered a woman if they are coming up with something, we are ready to listen, we are ready to look into it."
"But we will not take part in a politically motivated, sometimes politically motivated cultural war. And allow me to say that what is going on in this context, in the social media with all this hate speech, with this aggression and abuse, and fuelled by this agenda, is totally unacceptable."
