The gender issue

“Disaster! Women would have to get in the way”

Boxer Marcos Nader (right) talks about the "gender issue" at the Olympics.

(Bild: AP/AP, Mario Urbantschitsch)

"This is a disaster for the sport, a huge outrage!" Marcos Nader, Austria's boxing figurehead for many years, takes the verbal high road. He sees the fact that "men" are female enough for Olympic boxing as a low blow for his sport. World champion Michaela Kotaskova would even have refused to fight.

Prophylactically, he pulls up his argumentative guard. "I really am the most tolerant person," says Marcos Nader, trying not to present himself as a potential shitstorm projection screen. But then he goes on the offensive. "The decision is complete nonsense, a huge impertinence. We're not talking about long-distance running here, but a martial art. A man naturally has a decisive competitive advantage over a woman. There's no way to sugarcoat that. The women would have to get in the way."

Too masculine for the World Championships, feminine enough for the Olympics
Message received. But one thing at a time. As reported, two women, Imane Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan, will be competing in Paris who were banned from the World Championships a year ago because the gender test carried out there found them to be (too) male: too much testosterone and the XY chromosome. Why are they allowed to compete for Olympic medals a year later? Nobody really knows. The IOC does not publish the results of the gender test.

Since then, the waves have been running high and in some cases even spilling over into domestic politics. "If two men are allowed to compete against women in the ring at the Olympic Games in Paris, that's another low blow for all logic, seriousness and equal opportunities in sport," hisses sports councillor Udo Landbauer.

Wesner: "Let the doctor be the judge"
Seven-time world champion Nicole Wesner, also known to the masses as a former "Dancing Star", takes a more diplomatic approach. "The basic idea of the sporting duel is that two people measure their technical and tactical abilities and skills under the same conditions," she tells krone.at. Her proposed solution: "A doctor should assess whether, in his medical opinion, the conditions are equal."

Nicole Wesner believes that doctors have the authority to decide.

(Bild: krone.at)

"I would have been afraid"
Michaela Kotaskova is currently Austria's hottest ticket in women's boxing. Her world championship title has opened the door to the really big world of martial arts. She knows the Algerian Imane Khelif, who now competes as a woman, from her time in Olympic boxing. "She already looked pretty masculine back then: broad shoulders, strong in a fight," recalls Kotaskova. Her opinion is also clear. "Khelif boxes in my weight class, up to 66 kilograms. If I was the Italian who had to fight her, I would have refused the fight. I would simply have been afraid. The advantage due to the testosterone is enormous, there is no equality of opportunity."

How can that be, when there are clearly divided - and also clearly verifiable - weight classes? Kotaskova clarifies: "A study that has now been cited states that a man has 160 percent of the strength that a woman of the same age, height and weight has." Her conclusion: "Khelif boxing with women is not good for the sport." We're talking about this person, by the way:

And this is what it can look like when Khelif goes all out and literally "breadcrumbs" her opponent:

World champion Kotaskova: "I would have refused to fight."

(Bild: instagram.com/boxteambounce)

"Unless the woman is doping"
Hans Holdhaus Junior is not familiar with the study mentioned by Kotaskova. However, the 1.6 value does not seem to him to have been plucked out of thin air either. "Of course, a man has more power than a woman due to his testosterone option," says the sports scientist, "and therefore has an advantage over a woman." Interesting postscript: "Unless the woman is doping and gets the testosterone into her body in an unnatural way." Which is said to have happened in the past. "We know the pictures of the women who were unknowingly doped in the GDR. These people were de facto men in women's bodies. The testosterone had an effect on the metabolism and the shape of the muscles back then and still does in general. It also cost some of these women their lives."

Sports scientist Hans Holdhaus, here at a recording in the krone.tv studio in 2022

(Bild: krone.tv)

"The change is here"
At least there is no talk of that at the Olympics at the moment, thank goodness. However, the issue remains complex, especially in these ever-changing times. Virgina Ernst agrees. The singer-songwriter was an ice hockey player before her music career and even curved and checked her way to the World Championships. She utilizes the thematic assist to the woman-man theme in a variety of ways. On the one hand, familial. "We have a case in the family where there were adaptations from man to woman." Similar to the boxers Khelif and Yu-ting, who label themselves as transgender people. Ernst reports: "It is easier to acquire the strength when adapting from female to male than to reduce the strength when adapting from male to female. The voice also remains low. In this respect, the testosterone-related advantage is present in boxing and it is unfair for female opponents to box against a 'former man'. On the other hand, the change is simply there now. Many people don't want to identify as male or female, sooner or later a category will have to be created in which people compete who are neither male nor female. But that should be normal and not specifically named. Even if the biological advantage is there, you can't disqualify people because they feel they belong to a different gender. You have to give them the chance to feel comfortable in sport if they are good." Preferably in a separate category, especially as the subcategorization of society is picking up speed anyway, says Ernst.

Virigina Ernst sees change coming. Sooner or later, society will have to take it into account.

(Bild: krone.tv)

She has experienced something similar in music. In 2014, she was nominated for the Amadeus Austrian Music Award with Conchita Wurst in the same category, namely Best Female Artist. Not one hundred percent fair either, says Ernst, "Tom lives as a man in civilian life". Her approach in music, as in sport, is to create a category for people who cannot be categorized by gender. "It's a damn difficult topic because humanity tends to think in pigeonholes." The era of male-female pigeonholing is only just beginning to break down.

Nicole Wesner sums up the issue succinctly - especially as the question of hormone status can be a very complex one: "Are the conditions really the same when a person with an XX chromosome competes against a person with XY?" Good question.