Facts matter.
Even when they’re messy — as they often are — and complicate narratives, facts matter.
That’s because facts often remind us that life is complex and that rushing to judgment not only can be a mistake, but it also can be cruel.
If we needed a fresh lesson regarding this reality, the faux controversy generated by Italian boxer Angela Carini’s decision to surrender after 46 seconds in her Olympics bout with Algerian fighter Imane Khelif provided it.
Carini yielded because Khelif hit her too hard and suggested the reason was Khelif was a man, not a woman. In other boxing competitions, gender testing prevented Khelif from competing, but the Olympic rules were different.
That was enough to fuel outrage.
Social conservatives leapt on the incident. It triggered all their fears and rage regarding transgender people. These enraged conservatives claimed the fight was a case of a man beating up a woman in public and demanded to know why women’s advocates and progressives worldwide weren’t protesting the fight and its outcome.
They all but screamed for Khelif and the Olympics organizers to be strung up at the nearest tree.
If their anger had had any basis in fact, it might have been understandable.
The problem was that a little digging revealed that the facts didn’t support their fury. The facts, as they almost always do, revealed a more complicated story, one that didn’t lend itself to simple black-and-white, good-guy-bad-guy understandings of the situation.
It turns out that Khelif always has identified and competed as a woman. Her record as an amateur boxer prior to the Carini bout was solid, but not spectacular. She’s lost nine of her 46 fights — about 20% — making her good but not great in the ring.
Furthermore, the evidence suggesting that she had either elevated testosterone levels or both X and Y chromosomes is shaky at best.
Tests administered by the Russian-backed and Russian-controlled International Boxing Association last year supposedly determined that she did. Khelif and a Taiwanese boxer were disqualified for unspecified reasons regarding their gender tests after they had competed.
The disqualifications occurred after Khelif defeated a Russian boxer in the final fight.
IBA’s Russian president never released the test results nor said specifically what rules or guidelines Khelif and the other boxer failed to meet.
To further complicate matters, IBA and the Olympics are on the outs.
The International Olympic Committee long has criticized the way IBA administers the sport and in 2019 banned the organization from participating in the Olympics.
And Russia itself is banned from participating in the 2024 Olympic Games because of its unprovoked invasion of and ongoing war against Ukraine.
So, what we have here is an unsupported allegation from an organization with an ax to grind. That same organization that generated the unconfirmed charge is controlled by a nation that has violated international law and shows no regard or consideration for the damage it does to individual human beings or their lives.
This insubstantial allegation offered by a shady organization directed by a cruel and unscrupulous nation has been used to malign a young woman who apparently wanted nothing more than to compete in a sport and represent her country.
Those fueling the fury did what they could to make Khelif’s life miserable and rob her victory of meaning.
Those advancing the hysterical response to Carini’s defeat played on the irrational fears and bigotry too many harbor regarding transgender people.
Given that transgender human beings represent between .1% and .6% of the world’s population—on the low end, that’s roughly one out of every 1,000 people — the concern seems disproportionate to the situation.
That is, if one is interested in determining the facts of the matter.
To her credit, Carini seems to be one of those people.
When she saw the storm her withdrawal provoked, she issued a public apology to Khelif. She said she was upset about being defeated and in no way meant to malign her opponent or denigrate her achievement.
It was the appropriate response to an unfortunate episode.
It’s possible that the IBA and Russia are correct in this controversy and that they weren’t just interested in stirring up division and controversy in the civilized world.
If so, they should be able to provide facts supporting their contention.
If not, then maybe — just maybe — others besides Carini owe Khelif an apology.
Facts matter.
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College. Send comments to [email protected].
