Credit: X
The Indian athlete, Dutee Chand, reacted to the highly controversial gender row involving Angela Carini and Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics 2024. The 28-year-old backed Imane Khelif, who has been labelled by some as “biological male” or “transgender” after failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests, while talking about how she has faced controversy regarding her gender as well.
Notably, Algerian Imane Khelif achieved a win in the round of 16 against Angela Carini in the women’s boxing welterweight division at Paris 2024 after the Italian abandoned the fight in just 46 seconds due to the high intensity of her opponent’s punches. Following this, Carini refused to shake the hand of Khelif before going down to her knees to cry inside the squared circle.
Dutee Chand reacts to Angela Carini-Imane Khelif gender row at Paris Olympics 2024
In the year 2014, Dutee Chand successfully challenged the IOC’s regulation in regards to athletes barred from competing with naturally higher testosterone levels in 2014 with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. After the emergence of the recent Angela Carini-Imane Khelif controversy regarding gender at the Paris Olympics 2024, Dutee Chand spoke about the matter in detail to the media.
The official X account of PTI posted a video of Dutee Chand’s interview, where she said, “In 2014, I challenged the IOC's rule that a person with a higher testosterone level should not participate in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. It was noted that hormonal level cannot increase athletic performance... I suffered a lot at that time. I faced a lot of controversy regarding my gender.”
“Yesterday, during the Olympic match, (Angela) Carini gave up and now she is complaining about the Algerian boxer (Imane Khelif) because of high testosterone levels. When you play in the Olympics, you undergo several tests. I don't think it is right to create controversy about this social media,” she added.
