False accusations surrounding Olympic boxer highlight debate around gender and sports

William Brangham:

So that was Imane Khelif a few days ago, describing what these accusations can do to people.

For a deeper look at what we do and do not know, and what this says more broadly about the future of women’s sports, we are joined by Katie Barnes, who’s been closely following this for ESPN. Katie is also the author of “Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates.”

Katie Barnes, thank you so much for being here.

There are so many different threads in this story, who governs boxing, who gets to determine, who competes where, all these misconceptions about Imane Khelif herself. But let’s start with her to begin with. She’s born a female, she’s lived her life as a female, she’s competed as a female, and yet there’s this international boxing association test that allegedly disqualifies her.

What do we know about that test and what it tells us?