Sex testing and the Olympics. How do we make sport fair?

The Briefing

Overnight, Italy’s Angela Carini abruptly withdrew from her Paris Olympics boxing match against Algeria's Imane Khelif, saying she’s never felt a punch as hard as the one Khelif delivered to her nose in that match.

Khelif had previously been disqualified from last year’s World Boxing Championships after failing a gender eligibility test, and the debate surrounding the withdrawal has added fuel to an already toxic conversation about the role of sex and gender in sport.

The science has been clear for a long time - sex and gender are anything but binary. But how should we draw the line, to keep what is an inescapably physical competition fair for everyone involved?

Eric Windholz is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Monash University and an expert in the law and regulation of sport. He joins Bension Siebert on The Briefing to unpack how sex testing became a part of the Olympics in the first place, and the challenge global sport is facing to reconcile science with fairness in world-class competition.

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