Controversial gender-row boxer Imane Khelif’s upcoming gold medal fight has reignited a row over the women’s 800m at the Rio 2016 Olympics, in which all three medallists had high testosterone levels – with critics saying they should be stripped of their titles.
Algerian boxer Khelif, 25, has been at the centre of the biggest storm of the Paris 2024 games after being previously disqualified from competitive boxing for failing a gender eligibility test.
The row has thrown the spotlight back on the women’s 800m in Rio – won by South Africa‘s Caster Semenya, who had previously been banned from competing due to high testosterone levels.
In the years since, it has emerged that silver and bronze medallists – Francine Niyonsaba and Margaret Wambui of Kenya – also had eleveated testosterone, but neither publicly admitted it in 2016 and rules at the time allowed them to compete.
Yet it was something of an open secret, which was acknowledged by Team GB‘s Lynsey Sharp, who broke down in tears after finishing in sixth place, despite running her personal best, saying: ‘You can see how emotional it all was. We know how each other feels.’
Silver medallist Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba, gold medallist South Africa’s Caster Semenya, and bronze medallist Kenya’s Margaret Nyairera Wambui on the podium after the women’s 800m at the Rio Olympics
Team GB’s Lynsey Sharp was seen consoling her Canadian rival Melissa Bishop after the race
Canada’s Melissa Bishop hugged Britain’s Lynsey Sharp, while gold medallist Caster Semenya offered them both her consolation
In a show of solidarity, she was seen hugging Canada’s Melissa Bishop, who finished in fourth place and Joanna Jozwik of Poland, then 25, who came fifth.
Now, critics claim that Bishop, Jozwik and Sharp suffered an ‘injustice’ and have called for the three medallists to be stripped of their titles.
‘We have not forgotten the injustice that was meted out to Melissa Bishop, Joanna Jozwik and Lynsey Sharp,’ one said on X. ‘Rio, 2016, when the gold, silver and bronze medals for Women’s 800m were stolen by XY males, and the ladies were shamed for not thanking them for it.’
‘Why have these medals not been stripped from these cheats?’ another wrote.
Jozwik also raised questions about her opponents after the race, and blamed the autorities for ‘doing nothing’.
At the time, Caster Semenya (front) was allowed to compete despite her high testosterone levels
She told Eurosport: ‘The three athletes who were on the podium raise a lot of controversy. I must admit that for me it is a little strange that the authorities do nothing about this.
‘These colleagues have a very high testosterone level, similar to a male’s, which is why they look how they look and run like they run.’
‘It hurts a bit. I saw Melissa Bishop who was very disappointed, she improved her personal best and was 4th. It’s sad, and I think she should be the gold medalist.’
She echoed the sentiments of Lynsey Sharp, who also criticised the powers that be for allowing the three winners to compete.
‘I have tried to avoid the issue all year,’ she said. ‘You can see how emotional it all was. We know how each other feels.
‘It is out of our control and how much we rely on people at the top sorting it out. The public can see how difficult it is with the change of rule but all we can do is give it our best.’
In 2021, after her confidential medical records were leaked, Niyonsaba confirmed publicly that she is is intersex and hyperandrogenic.
Although banned from competing in events under one mile, she has continued to take part in athletics by increasing her distance.
In 2021, she set a new 2,000m record at a Continental Tour Gold meeting in Zagreb,
Wambui has also acknowledged that she too has high testosterone levels – due to having 46,XY karyotype an intersex condition – even calling for a third category for athletes with differences in sex development (DSD) to be introduced.
DSDs have become a central point of controversy at this year’s Olympics after boxer Khelif who was banned from a previous women’s international competition when tests reportedly found she had ‘male sex chromosomes’.
At the time International Boxing Associate president, Umar Kremlev, claimed the tests had proven Khelif ‘had XY chromosomes’, which are an indicator someone is male.
Critics have taken to X to say that the medallists in the 800m women’s final at Rio 2016 should be stripped of their titles
He added that they ‘uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretend to be women’.
Speculation abounds that Khelif has a DSD, an umbrella term for 40-plus individual conditions which develop in the womb and only affects between 0.05 and 1 percent per cent of the population.
Also called ‘intersex’ conditions, DSDs can result in outwardly female individuals having male chromosomes or anatomy.
For example, a person can be born with female genitalia but have the XY chromosome combinate typical of males as well as internal hidden testicles.
They can give people unusual combinations of chromosomes and reproductive organs, which in the context, of sport can boost their performance.
Imane Khalif punches Janjaem Suwannapheng in the face during the Women’s 66Kg Boxing semi-final at the Paris 2014 Olympics
Caster Semenya, pictured at the World Athletics Championships in 2022, has never been able to defend her women’s 800m title after winning gold in Rio
For example, an athlete may be born with female anatomy but have a DSD which boosts her level of testosterone, a hormone critical to building muscle and strength.
While many DSDs are spotted at birth, some only come to light in puberty or as a result of a medical operations, test and even autopsies.
In some cases, athletes have only learned they have a DSD during pre-competition medical tests, which have led to them being disqualified and ending their dreams of representing their country.
Perhaps the most famous personl living with a DSD is Caster Semenya.
Semenya’s ‘intersex’ condition of hyperandrogenism gives her testosterone levels that are three times those usually found in women and approaching those of a man.
She has no womb or ovaries and, due to a chromosomal abnormality, she has internal testes.
At 18, she stormed to prominence by winning the 800m world title in 2009 in the wake of the revelation she had undergone gender verification tests by the the athletics world governing body, the IAAF.
She was then prevented from running until 2010, when it was in effect ruled she was a woman with extreme testosterone levels.
From 2011 she had to take testosterone-reducing medication for ‘fairness’ and then won a silver medal at London 2012.
However, the ruling was then challenged by Indian runner Dutee Chand, who also has hyperandrogenism.
In 2015, the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended the rules for two years, meaning Semenya could come off the medication.
Critics agreed the way she has been treated has shamed the sport, and harked back to 1966 when female competitors at the European Athletics Championship were subjected to a ‘nude parade’ past three gynaecologists.
After ceasing testosterone-reducing medication, she took 800m gold in Rio and set a new national record time.
In second place was Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba and Kenya’s bronze medallist Margaret Wambui.
At the time, neither Niyonsaba or Wambui identified as hyperandrogenic and their high testosterone levels were only revealed in subsequent years.
Wambui has since called for a third category to be introudced for women athletes with high testosterone, telling BBC Sport Africa that it is ‘wrong to stop people from using their talents.’
In 2018, the IAAF introduced new Eligibility Regulations meaning that any athlete classified as having differences of sexual development – or DSD – cannot contest any distance between 400m and one mile in the female category unless they artificially reduce testosterone levels.
All three were barred from competing in the 800m at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and none have since contested their title in the distance at a global international championship.
