Female Olympic boxer Esra Yildiz Kahraman of Turkey made an "X" symbol with her fingers in an apparent protest after her semifinal loss Wednesday to Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, who's embroiled in a gender controversy.
The International Boxing Association disqualified Lin — as well as fellow Paris Olympic boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria — from the March 2023 world championships over failure to meet gender eligibility requirements.
Lin on Saturday will fight Poland’s Julia Szeremeta for the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 57 kg category.
According to Reuters, IBA President Umar Kremlev told Russian outlet TASS at the time that the boxers — who were fighting in the women's division — had "XY chromosomes." Males have XY chromosomes; females have XX chromosomes. But despite the controversy, the International Olympic Committee allowed both Lin and Khelif to compete against female boxers in Paris.
It appears Kahraman's "X" gesture was related to the chromosome controversy. Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria made the same "X" symbol after her Sunday quarterfinal loss to Lin.
Lin has been using technique and reach rather than power to win, the Associated Press said, adding that's how Lin beat Kahraman, who tried a more physical approach while Lin "patiently picked her apart mostly from distance for three rounds."
Lin on Saturday will fight Poland’s Julia Szeremeta for the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 57 kg category. Khelif on Friday will fight China's Yang Liu for the Olympic gold medal in the women's 66 kg category.
Khelif also has been making headlines for a gender controversy, particularly after a bout last week against Italy's Angela Carini, who threw in the towel after just 46 seconds against Khelif and later said "one punch hurt too much, and so I said enough."
Carini later apologized to Khelif and said she respects the IOC's decision to let the Algerian fight against women.
IOC president Thomas Bach in a recent press conference defended Khelif and Lin: "We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman, and who have competed for many years as women. And this is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman."
Besides calling the criticism of Khelif and Lin "hate speech," Bach alleged that the IBA — which the IOC dropped prior to the 2024 Paris Games — was waging a "defamation campaign against France, against the games, against the IOC."
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The Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has sparked an online firestorm, as people viciously spar over whether or not the athlete is biologically male or female. According to what the mainstream media and the IOC are saying, Khelif is not transgender but was born female with a condition called DSD that causes the development of XY chromosomes. Others say that it is impossible to have XY chromosomes and be anything other than a biological male.
Caitlyn Jenner, who largely pioneered the transgender movement, spoke about the controversy during a recent Fox interview.
Dave Rubin plays the clip.
Caitlyn Jenner Makes Fox Host Go Quiet with Unexpected Take on Controversial Olympic Boxerwww.youtube.com
“First of all, if you’re dealing with being intersex, we’re talking about 0.001% of the population. It’s a very, very small portion of the population,” Jenner said, adding that the “media is so hypersensitive about this.”
“I think the Olympic Committee did absolutely the wrong thing by letting her compete. ... The IOC just didn't do their job at the beginning and then the media got a hold of this and blew the whole thing up. But shame on the IOC for not protecting the integrity of women's sports and shame on the IOC for not protecting the safety of women's sports, obviously,” Jenner continued, noting that “this is a safety issue.”
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Motherhood is undoubtedly one of the hardest jobs there is — but some women make it look easy.
Jasmin Paris is one of them. Paris is not only a mother but somehow has also been able to accomplish being a clinical academic, small animal vet, teacher, and an ultramarathon runner.
Paris took life and literally ran with it. The mother became the first woman ever to finish a 100-mile ultramarathon called the Barkley Marathons and participated in the Spine Race — which is around 268 miles.
“The reason I signed up for it originally was when I was coming back into training after having my daughter, my first baby, and I kind of wanted a new challenge. Something that would keep me motivated,” Paris tells James Poulos of “Zero Hour.”
When her daughter was 10 months old, Paris was back at work full time — but that didn’t stop her from training for the Spine every single day.
“It’s difficult when you compare yourself to the way that you were before you had a kid, but if you sign up for something completely new, and a different challenge altogether, then you’ve got nothing to compare yourself against. You can just go into it completely new and excited,” she explains.
Poulos is thoroughly impressed.
“That’s beautiful, that you’re splitting your time, aside from family of course, between caring in expert ways for small animals, and then taking on some of the biggest challenges that just seem to be outside of all human proportions,” he tells Paris.
One of Paris’ main reasons for running the way she does is that she says it’s where she is truly herself.
“Once you kind of become a parent, I think it’s difficult to, alongside work, to keep something that’s just about you. And I personally found that having running helps me be a better parent,” she explains. “I also think it’s really good for the next generation, for my kids to see that I’m not just taking them around from swimming class to gymnastics class, with my whole life revolving around them.”
“It’s good for them to see that I’ve got a hobby as well, because if you want them to grow up like that, with a passion, and be ambitious, and believe in themselves, then you need to lead by example,” she adds.
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The blasphemous opening ceremony that boldly mocked da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” isn’t the only scandal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Two biological men are also being allowed to compete against women in the boxing division — “the most dangerous sport,” according to Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics.
“It’s happening in the Olympics; it's happening at the NCA finals; it's happening at the state track championship in Oregon and in Washington; and it's happening at the local high school. It's happened over 700 times in the last few years alone that males have stolen medals and trophies from females,” she tells Jill Savage and the “Blaze News Tonight” panel.
But what’s perhaps most upsetting is the IOC’s insistence that the two athletes have met gender eligibility requirements.
Olympic Committee IGNORES Biologywww.youtube.com
Despite the fact that Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria failed the gender eligibility tests at the 2023 women’s world championships because their results revealed XY chromosomes, proving that they were in fact male, the International Olympics Committee has attested that Yu-ting and Khelif are female because their passports say so.
“The IOC spokesperson said, ‘Well, it says female on their passport so we're going to just trust that,’” says Sey. “Do you really think that individuals and governments wouldn't lie about the status of an athlete on their passport in order to win medals?”
The IOC spokesperson to whom Sey refers is Mark Adams, who indeed attested that they are “complying with the competition eligibility rules.”
“They are women in their passports, and it’s stated that that is the case — that they are women,” Adams said, insisting that “they are eligible by the rules of the federation, which were set in 2016.”
“These hard-working female athletes, these boxers ... are being told that in order to be nice, they need to sit down, get punched in the face, and give up their medal and their trophy and everything they've worked for because ‘oh they're abiding by the eligibility rules,”’ Sey condemns.
To make matters even more upsetting, Yu-ting and Khelif “don’t even seem to be pretending to be female.” Images from the Olympics show the two in the area looking every bit like males.
To hear more about the scandal, watch the video above.
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"Anti-Semitic protesters" chanted "Heil Hitler" and seemingly made Nazi salutes during the Israeli national anthem, which preceded the Israel-Paraguay soccer match at the Paris Olympics over the weekend, USA Today reported.
You can view video of the chant and salutes here. Yahoo Sports said it was an "indistinguishable chant." You be the judge.
'Paris 2024 strongly condemns these acts.'
What's more, a "Genocide Olympics" banner was displayed at Saturday's match:
Stewards removed protesters from the stadium, Sky News reported, and French authorities have opened an investigation into the anti-semitic display, CNN reported.
"Paris 2024 strongly condemns these acts," a Paris 2024 spokesperson said in a statement, according to USA Today. "A complaint has been lodged by Paris 2024, which is at the disposal of the authorities to assist with the investigation."
But Guy Luzon — head coach of Israel's soccer team — appeared to use the ugly behavior as motivation.
"Bring on the loudest protests," he said, according to USA Today, which cited Ynet News. "They make us work harder."
Paraguay defeated Israel 4-2.
Yahoo Sports added that prior to the start of the Olympics, a left-wing French politician said Israeli athletes were "not welcome" in Paris, and the Palestine Olympic committee wrote a letter to International Olympic Committee head Thomas Bach demanding the banning of Israel from the games.
More from Yahoo Sports:
In an effort to limit the threat of potential clashes between Israeli fans and pro-Palestinian activists, French Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin vowed to create an “antiterrorism perimeter” around Israel’s opening soccer match against Mali last Wednesday. Outside the stadium, throngs of police kept watch or patrolled by foot. Most carried guns and wore bulletproof vests. Some were on horseback or clad in riot gear.
The Israeli soccer team bus arrived last Wednesday escorted by an armada of motorcycle police and police vans. As kickoff approached, the sound of police helicopters could be heard overhead.
Kickoff between Israel and Mali arrived without any major disturbances, save for loud boos and whistles from the crowd at the start of the Israeli national anthem. It’s unclear how much, if at all, the police presence was scaled back for Israel’s second match against Paraguay.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office announced that it also has opened an investigation into death threats against three Israeli athletes, the Jerusalem Post reported.
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A 16-year-old Brazilian skateboarder competing in the Olympics used her time in the spotlight to highlight her Christian faith.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympiad, skateboarder Rayssa Leal became one of the youngest athletes ever to win a medal in competition when she took home silver in street skateboarding. She was just 13 years old at the time.
'For me it is important, I am Christian, I believe a lot in God.'
On Sunday, Leal followed up her performance in Tokyo by winning the bronze medal in the same competition in Paris.
At one point during the competition, Leal used sign language to communicate what is to her an important truth the entire world needs to hear: "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life." You can view the video of Leal using sign language to share her Christian faith here.
Leal's decision to use her field of play to make an explicit religious message seemingly contradicts Rule 50 of the International Olympic Committee's charter, which states, "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas."
That prohibition, however, could not stop Leal.
"I did it because I do it in every competition," she later said, according to a translation of her remarks. "For me it is important, I am Christian, I believe a lot in God. There I asked for strength and sent a message to everyone, that God really is the way, the truth, and the life.
"I did it in sign language because the microphone probably wouldn’t pick up my voice, so it was the way I found to communicate with everyone. I think that’s very important," she added.
The world-famous athlete, who boasts more than 8 million followers on Instagram, even joked about receiving a warning from the IOC for apparently violating Rule 50.
"Boy, if I got a warning — I don't know yet because it hasn't reached me yet — that's it. If I get a warning, we'll find out later," she said, according to a Brazilian news outlet.
To celebrate her bronze medal, Leal posted a picture on Instagram and quoted Joshua 1:9, which says, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
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The drag spectacle creates doubt about some cherished assumptions of the modern secular world.
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