Transgender boxer cleared to compete in Olympics batters female opponent (VIDEO)

A video of a transgender boxer battering a female opponent has resurfaced online after she was cleared to fight in the 2024 Olympic Games.

Last year, Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were disqualified from the World Championships for failing a gender eligibility test following a series of DNA tests after their sexes were questioned.

However, with the International Boxing Association no longer recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the boxers were cleared to compete at this year’s Olympics.

Khelif, who was previously disqualified for failing a testosterone level test, will, therefore, be facing Italy’s Carini Angela on Thursday.

Transgender boxers cleared to fight at Olympics

However, ahead of the fight, a video of the transgender Algerian battering a female opponent has sparked criticism on social media.

Khelif faced Mexico’s Brianda Tamara in December 2022 and completely dominated her in that contest after landing several headshots.

When Khelif was disqualified from the World Championships, Tamara came out saying she was lucky to have finished the fight without any damage and backed the ban.

“When I fought with her I felt very out of my depth. Her blows hurt me a lot, I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realized,” she wrote on X.

Meanwhile, IOC spokesman Mark Adams has defended the global body’s decision to clear the two boxers to compete at the Olympics.

“These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven’t just suddenly arrived – they competed in Tokyo,” she said, as quoted by the BBC.

“The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.

“In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level.”

Khelif will be fighting in the welterweight division at the Olympics.