Rumors about her sex traits and that she is a man are unsubstantiated.
Some of the confusion apparently comes from misunderstanding about ones sex vs. ones gender.
NIH usually categorizes ones sex as male or female although, it notes importantly, variations do occur.
Imane Khelif of Team Algeria celebrates winning the gold medalMaja Hitij/Getty Images
Athletes with variations in their sex traits, or DSDs, are not the same as transgender athletes.
GLAAD says that conflating the two is inaccurate.
A number of high-profile personalities on social media have spoken out against the IOCs support of Khelif.
Among them were J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk and Logan Paul, the latter of whom laterpartially recanted.
After being called out on social media, Paul posted a new, somewhat sincere-sounding statement.
OOPSIES, he wrote.
I might be guilty of spreading misinformation along with the entirety of this app.
In an interview recently, Khelifopened up about the controversyand the associated harassment.
It can destroy people and kill their thoughts, their spirit and their mind.
Bullying can cause division and because of all this I am asking them to stop bullying.
This is just not the case, scientifically on that there is consensus.
Scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman.
And I think we need to kind of get that out.
Khelif is not the only female boxer who was alleged to have XY chromosomes by the IBA.
Lin Yu-ting, representing Chinese Taipei, who will compete for gold in the featherweight division tomorrow.
