Smart people say that in today’s world, it’s crucial to verify all facts (there are even special fact-checking projects for this). The ongoing Olympics in Paris has already shown how important this advice is, as a huge number of stories have spread across social networks, leading to both condemnation and praise. But if you dig deeper, things are not quite as they seem. To illustrate this, I decided to break down three well-known “fakes,” as we’ll call them.
The first of these was so convincing that even I, succumbing to the general hysteria, immediately jumped to condemnation without checking whether what was being said was true. For that, I apologize—I was wrong.
Imane Khelif — “A Man Fighting Women”
The scandal involving Imane Khelif and another boxer, Lin Yu-ting, began even before the start of the Olympics. However, this topic wasn’t heavily covered in the press until the first match. But in her very first fight, Imane defeated the Italian boxer in just 46 seconds, after which the Italian fighter stopped the match and withdrew.
This victory sparked a wave of hatred directed both at Imane Khelif and the Olympic Committee.
Everyone was outraged, questioning how a clear “man” from Algeria was allowed into women’s sports. The arguments were based on the fact that in 2023, she was disqualified right before the championship final due to a failed gender test: her blood showed elevated levels of testosterone, which is not typical for women.
The Italian athlete harshly criticized Imane, accusing everyone that she came to the Olympics to fight women, not men. The Italian government supported their athlete. The internet was flooded with waves of hatred toward Imane Khelif, and rumors started spreading like wildfire, claiming she was either transgender or intersex, with both male and female reproductive organs.
Imane herself remained resilient, continuing to compete. Algeria stood by their athlete, and the Olympic Committee insisted that she had passed all tests and was eligible to compete as a woman.
The situation escalated to the point where even Imane’s father felt compelled to show her childhood photos to dispel the rumors that she had been a boy until adolescence:
But people no longer want to hear the truth. Even many of my friends, to whom I tried to explain the situation, say that nothing will convince them otherwise.
So what likely happened with Imane? Of course, we haven’t seen her medical records, but based on indirect signs, we can make some educated guesses:
- A certain number of female children are born with a Y chromosome, which women typically do not have. In most cases, the presence of such a chromosome results in the embryo developing as a boy. But not always.
- Depending on how the child’s body responds to testosterone (triggered by the Y chromosome), fetal development can vary. In some cases, the girl remains a girl with all primary female characteristics. In other cases, the uterus and eggs might be present but less developed, and the menstrual cycle might be infrequent. Yet, even in these instances, such women can still have a chance to conceive and bear children. In a third scenario, the woman remains physically female but cannot conceive due to an underdeveloped internal reproductive system.
Yes, such a person might have elevated testosterone levels in their blood. However, modern medicine offers many ways to make a woman more masculine. Many of these methods are banned as doping, but there are also borderline solutions.
But let’s return to Imane. She was born as a girl, grew up as a girl, and was raised as a girl—in a Muslim country, where it is highly unlikely that she would have become transgender.
Olympic tests check for testosterone levels, and if they are even slightly elevated, additional tests are conducted. These likely included a thorough physical examination, which would almost certainly have included checking for female internal organs.
Yes, she may be slightly more masculine, but that does not make her a man. How much does elevated testosterone make her stronger? I don’t know, but probably not significantly, since many sports doctors allowed her to compete.
Therefore, I believe that it is wrong to persecute someone who has a rare genetic condition. I even admire the fact that all this hasn’t broken Imane—she continues to fight, even when half the world hates her for being “not quite a woman.” We should be celebrating the fact that a woman from a Muslim country has made it this far in sports and may soon become an Olympic champion.
My main message is this: she is a woman. Not transgender, not intersex. The other criteria are the responsibility of the doctors. But they have already spoken, having allowed her to compete for many years, including in these Olympic Games.
Relaxed Shooter Yusuf Dikeç
The second example isn’t about hatred but rather about memes and the distortion of facts.
Turkish pistol shooter Yusuf Dikeç became a meme thanks to a single photograph from the competition, where he was compared to other shooters. The caption humorously stated that an ordinary Turkish policeman (as Dikeç previously served in the gendarmerie), with a relaxed demeanor and his hand in his pocket, “blew away” his competitors and won silver:
Yes, with the right presentation, it looks amusing. The memes spread across the internet in just a few days. Worldwide fame for Dikeç is now assured, much like how the world remembers “Mr. Trololo.”
But was Dikeç really that different from other athletes? Let’s break it down.
1. When shooting a pistol, athletes hold the weapon with one hand. This isn’t like the classic police shooting stance, where the second hand supports the first during shooting. The question then becomes: where should the other hand go? Logically, it should be positioned to make the stance as stable and balanced as possible. Some shooters place their hand on their hip, but a large number of athletes keep it in their pocket. Here are just two examples I found on the internet.
So, the idea of being “relaxed with a hand in the pocket” can be dismissed.
2. Non-specialized Glasses. Yes, Dikeç chose not to use specialized shooting glasses with an eye cover and focusing lens. However, he’s not the only one who does this. Moreover, he has his own glasses, which might provide him with a similar level of focus as specialized ones. Or maybe they don’t, but they are more comfortable for him. Just like many other athletes who also forgo specialized glasses.
3. Lack of Headphones. Yes, Dikeç didn’t wear headphones. But from photos taken from different angles and according to the athlete himself, he wasn’t entirely without protection. He finds large headphones uncomfortable, so he reduced the noise using earplugs, which do a decent job. Here’s a photo where his earplugs are visible:
4. And the last one. Take another look at the photo above. Do you see the woman there? Yet no one seems to mention her. But Dikeç didn’t win the silver medal alone; it was a mixed pairs competition. He competed alongside a woman named Sevval Ilayda Tarhan. However, thanks to the meme, only Dikeç is being recognized as a champion, which is at least unfair, as they won the silver together and stood on the podium together:
Indeed, as we can see from the photo of the shooting range, the woman was also shooting without specialized glasses.
But the power of the meme is now impossible to undo.
David and Goliath
The third example is not as well-known, although a few media outlets managed to spin it into a mini-scandal. The claim was that in judo, all the rules were broken, and the French team put a knowingly stronger opponent on the tatami against the Korean athlete:
Even my initial reaction was, “No way!” because I spent several carefree years of my youth in this sport (which later saved my life, by the way, but that’s another story). I knew it was impossible to pit fighters in the same weight category with a 62 kg (!!!) difference. And Frenchman Teddy Riner, weighing 145 kg, is indeed that much heavier than the Korean Lee. He’s also a couple of heads taller, standing at 204 cm.
But that didn’t stop some people from accusing the organizers of breaking all the rules. They even claimed that Riner’s victory in this match secured him the Olympic gold medal.
However, thoughtful people quickly started digging to find out what really happened.
Riner won his gold in a different match. Yes, there aren’t many heavyweights of his size and stature in judo. However, in the heavyweight final, he faced Japan’s Saito Tatsuru, who, while slightly shorter, appeared to be a fairly equal match for Riner. And the bout was far from easy:
So Riner’s gold medal is well-deserved and honestly earned.
But what about those earlier images? It turns out they were from the team events. In these events, the teams themselves choose when to pit their fighters against the opponent. Why the Korean team decided to match such an underweight fighter against Teddy Riner remains a mystery. They haven’t provided any comments.
However, the Korean team does have a heavyweight, Kim Minjong, who at least doesn’t look like a “David” next to the “Goliath” Riner. They did have a match where Riner defeated him, but it didn’t look nearly as comical:
Conclusion
Don’t fall for news without verifying it. All these “hot rumors” often turn out to be something entirely different from what they appear to be.
