Washington.- Former President Donald Trump on Saturday reiterated his criticism of two Olympic boxing champions, falsely claiming that both are men.
Trump made the comments during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, vowing to “keep men out of women’s sports.” The former president said he was struck by events at the Olympics that concluded last week, particularly the case of two athletes who were the subject of much international comment.
Both female boxers were caught up in posts based on misconceptions about their gender.
Trump has been critical of transgender people at his political events for years, specifically targeting their participation in sports. His language about gender identity has been considered misguided and harmful by the LGBTQ+ community.
In the case of the two female boxers, Algerian Imane Khelif and Taiwanese Li Yu-ting, they have faced a series of false and erroneous comments about their gender, following the International Boxing Association, a banned body of the Olympic movement, deciding to disqualify them from the world championships last year, saying they had failed an unspecified eligibility test.
Trump did not mention the athletes by name, but stressed that “there were two people who transitioned at the Olympics.”
“They were men. They transitioned to women and they were in boxing,” Trump said.
Despite being born and raised as women, Khelif and Lin were dragged into the Western debate over gender and sport following murky and unspecified tryouts for the International Boxing Association’s women’s competition.
Trump and other prominent figures have complained that Khelif was allowed to run. Trump has previously referred to Khelif as a man.
He did it again on Saturday, describing the two athletes competing in Paris 2024 as “insane”.
“It is very degrading for women,” she said.
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