Olympic Boxers Reignite Debate Over Inclusion in Women’s Sports

When Imane Khelif of Algeria defeated Italy’s Angela Carini in just 46 seconds at the Paris Olympics, she should have been celebrating her advancing to the quarterfinals.

Instead, Khelif found herself at the center of a firestorm focused on her gender. Because even though she was born a woman, has lived her life as a woman, and was verified by the International Olympic Committee as a woman. There were loud voices spreading the misinformation that a man had just beaten up a woman in an Olympic boxing match.

It’s a familiar debate that has raged at different points in the modern sports world. About who is and isn’t eligible to take part in women’s athletics. And a fight that hits even harder against women of color.

So today, ESPN’s Katie Barnes joins the show to explain how the history of eligibility in women’s athletics is tied to a complicated science that doesn’t lend itself to simple regulations.

And to explore why we keep weaponizing gender when it comes to women’s sports.

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