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3 months ago
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Women's boxing world champion Claressa Shields has fumed over the decision to allow two fighters who failed gender tests to compete against females at this summer's Paris Olympics.
Olympic chiefs have sparked outrage by allowing Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan - who were both thrown out of last year's world championships after being deemed biological males - to enter the women's boxing category in Paris.
Khelif, who also competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was disqualified from the competition after failing gender eligibility tests prior to her scheduled gold-medal bout, while Yu-Ting was stripped of her bronze following a similar result.
Despite this, the two boxers are set to fight against women athletes in the coming days after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bosses insisted they have met all the required eligibility criteria to do so.
Claressa Shields has fumed over the decision to allow two fighters who failed gender tests to compete against females at the Paris Olympics
Olympic chiefs have sparked outrage by allowing Imane Khelif of Algeria (left) and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan (right) to enter the women's boxing category
But Shields, who currently holds professional women's world titles in three separate weight classes, has become the latest high-profile figure to hit out at the decision.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist wrote on X: 'So they got men fighting against women in the Olympics boxing ! I wouldn’t have stood for no stuff like that!
'That is so heartbreaking to the women who have to have their dreams ruined by a man. Sad asf!'
Shields first rose to fame in women's boxing when she captured two gold medals at the Olympics; first coming out on top at the 2012 Games in London before repeating the feat four years later in Rio de Janeiro.
She is not the only female fighter to express over the trans boxing controversy in Paris, with former Australian world champion Ebanie Bridges also voicing her disapproval.
Shields took to social media to express her anger at the decision to let them compete
Khelif, who also competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was disqualified from last year's world championships after failing gender eligibility tests prior to her scheduled gold-medal bout
Yu-Ting (left) was stripped of her bronze following a similar result at the competition
'Bruh... these transgenders competing in women's boxing AT THE OLYMPICS... male born transgenders, is f***en sickening,' Bridges posted on X.
'It's f***en disgusting that the Olympic committee would let these guys/girls who still look like men compete against women.
'And these biological men who want to compete in women's boxing must be saddists or something cos any man knows how much stronger they are than females and it's also why a man hitting a women is so bad.. the biological difference IS REAL.
'What the f**k. Honestly unbelievable and sick.'
Amid the uproar, the IOC has warned against a 'witch-hunt' amid criticism of its decision to allow Khelif and Yu-Ting to compete.
Former world champion Ebanie Bridges said it is 'honestly unbelievable' that they have been cleared to fight in the Paris Olympics
At the time of their world-championships disqualification Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), claimed the tests had proven the athletes had 'XY chromosomes'.
He added that they 'uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretend to be women'.
But following last year's ban, the Algerian Olympic Committee hit back by claiming the disqualification was part of a 'conspiracy' to stop their fighter Khelif from winning a gold medal.
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