When it comes to sex, some people don't fit the binaries

So there it is: Imane Khelif has won gold in the women’s 66kg category of the Olympic boxing. At the press conference, she stated: “My honour is intact now.” But her victory does not calm the waves of hatred crashing over her.

- HELEN KING

Her medal raises questions about the shortcomings of the Russian-led International Boxing Association, and the misogynoir of attacks on Black and brown women who may not conform to Western ideals of womanhood. As Victoria Brownworth concluded in 2021: “The Olympics has a Black woman problem.” The organisation Human Rights Watch has claimed that “observation and suspicion” disproportionately affect women athletes from the Global South.

Above all, though, Khelif’s medal asks whether science can ever answer the question: who “counts” as a woman? Discussing trans athletes, president of World Athletics Sebastian Coe has said that he is determined “to protect and preserve the female category” and that all we need to do is “monitor the science”.