What's up with the Olympics?

This article was first published on Jennifer Shields blog, The Edit

The Olympic spirit is aspirational, and I think it's one that's worthy. But, in contrast, the reality of the Olympics and how they've been used to violently enforce these ideals leaves a lot to be desired.

AP Photo/John Locher

This just in, everyone, in case you hadn't heard the news: if you were assigned female at birth, and maybe have elevated testosterone, you're a man. If you were assigned female at birth and choose to take testosterone, you're a woman, and always will be one, and in fact there's a global conspiracy only making you think you're a man. There's also a global conspiracy to put men into women's sports so men can dominate every sport in the world, because we all know - any feminist will tell you - men are better than women at every sport, and fragile women must be protected, right?

It's a wild worldview that doesn't have any internal coherence (but remember, that doesn't matter any more - the incoherence is a strength) that has really come to the forefront this week as the world watched Imane Khelif in the boxing at the Olympics. Well, some of the world watched, and then people who have never watched women's sport once in their life decided it was suddenly incredibly important to make their views known.

It's been an exhausting week for a lot of us, watching this all unfold - both as a trans person and as someone dealing with disinformation all the time, it's kind of been a crystallisation point for so many things.

For those who (somehow) aren't caught up, Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer competing in the women's 66kg at the Olympics, beat her Italian competitor Angela Carini when Carini stepped out of the match very quickly. Carini took a few big hits right off the bat, had an equipment failure, and stepped out for her safety. Understandably devastated, Carini did not shake Khelif's hand as she left the ring.

And then, the internet stepped in. The worst people you'll ever met saw a woman they decided looked too masculine to be a 'real' woman, and kicked off their transvestigation. In 2023, after defeating Russian boxer Azalia Amineva in the 2023 world champs, Khelif was subjected to sudden gender testing by the Russian-run IBA. Prior to Amineva's loss, she had a perfect record. After the - unspecified - gender test, in which the IBA "did not test testosterone" and will not say more about what the test was or what it revealed - Amineva's perfect record was restored. That's not suss at all, right?

Carini herself has been incredibly clear that her decision to step out of the match had nothing to do with Khelif - her "I had to preserve my life" comment was about her equipment malfunction:

“My face and nose were hurting,” Carini said, according to the Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport. “I couldn’t breathe anymore. I thought about my family, I looked at my brother in the stands and I went to my corner to retire. … I’ve never been hit with such a powerful punch.”

Carini added that it wasn’t a pre-meditated move.

“All this controversy makes me sad,” Carini said. “I’m sorry for my opponent, too. … If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”

Carini was apologetic for not shaking Khelif’s hand after the bout.

“It wasn’t something I intended to do,” Carini said. “Actually, I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke. I don’t have anything against Khelif. Actually, if I were to meet her again I would embrace her.”

Of course, these facts aren't relevant to those caught in their feelings - people have doubled and tripled down, unwilling to ever admit that they might be wrong, because if they're wrong about this, what then? Maybe they also got the whole idea of "biological advantage" wrong? Might they also be wrong about the Holocaust?

It had me thinking back to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, when Aotearoa had the first openly transgender woman to ever compete in the Olympic Games, Laurel Hubbard. Notably, trans people have been eligible to compete in the games since 2004 - it was 16 years until someone qualified. We're so dominant!

I watched Hubbard's performance in the weightlifting, subjected to massive scrutiny and intense "debate" from lauded sports medicine experts such as Kelly, and Jim, and Bridget, all prominent Facebook post commenters with impressive qualifications such as a Merit in NCEA Level 2 Biology. Hubbard, in front of a significant crowd of media, failed all three lifts and placed last in her group. Superior biological strength!

I was heartbroken for Hubbard. I watched Aotearoa send masses of love and adoration and patriotic joy to all our Olympians, as we always do - except for Hubbard. Hubbard got torn to shreds. Someone who had strived to compete, had put blood, sweat, and tears into her training, who had qualified - an achievement in itself - and had passed the requirements set by the International Weightlifting Federation, who I can only assume consist of experts who have maybe done a little more study beyond NCEA Level 2 Biology - and what she got in return was hatred.

We watched the Simone Biles documentary last night - it's on Netflix and excellent watching - after being awed by Biles' performances in Paris. The documentary talks a lot about a similar trend on another axis - the way, historically, Black athletes were only allowed to succeed if it was in the shadow of another, more successful, white athlete. Biles talked about the immense scrutiny she received after bowing out of competition for her mental health, above and beyond anything you might consider in any way reasonable, subjected to national mechanisms of hatred and vitriol.

I think we only allow success - true success - to those who fit the mould. Certainly, we see it with Khelif - someone who has worked incredibly hard to get where she is, travelling by bus to train in a neighbouring town as a child, and who has been subjected to international mechanisms of hate, fuelled by anger at the sight of someone who does not fit the white, cissexist norm of what Western colonial powers consider a woman.

We saw it with Hubbard, who, instead of receiving the aroha and awhi afforded to other athletes by her country, instead received hate. We see it with Biles and the other Black gymnasts talked about in her documentary, who, instead of being celebrated for their achievements, had to exist in the shadows of their white counterparts, cut down when they dared do better.

The Olympics - especially this year, but in all its iterations - is functioning as a means of enforcing colonial, racist, sexist norms. Instead of holding Olympism at heart - the values of excellence, respect, and friendship - we see the games used as a tool to punish deviance from the norm, driving immense international mechanisms of hate.

And it sucks, honestly! Beyond how exhausting it has been to exist online this week, the opening ceremony started so strong, with such emphasis on celebrating diversity, coming together as members of an international community, revolting against the aristocrats, culminating with Sequana, the healing goddess of the Seine, riding down the river as we watched in awe.

The Olympic spirit is aspirational, and I think it's one that's worthy. But, in contrast, the reality of the Olympics and how they've been used to violently enforce these ideals leaves a lot to be desired.

Thankfully, crowds of people not infected with brainworms have swarmed to support Khelif. Her fights are well-attended, with crowds cheering her name at her victory in her quarter-final. The IOC, World Boxing, Palestinian Olympic Committee, and others from the Middle East have come out in strong support.

I can't imagine the pressure of competing at the Olympics alone, let alone the additional pressure of every hate-filled eye in the world watching you.

Imane Khelif's semifinal fight is just after 8:30 on Wednesday morning NZ time.

Jennifer Shields is a writer and trans health advocate from Ōtautahi, Aotearoa