The kind of bullying and abuse Olympic boxer Imane Khelif has been subjected to makes one thing crystal clear: in the age of social media, misinformation is easiest to amplify when it’s rooted in misogyny, transphobia and racism, and amplified by verified, blue-ticked accounts on X. It has also made it clear that trans-hate will eventually come to haunt all women who do not fit traditional, conservative definitions of femininity.

Now that Imane Khelif has refused to take the online abuse in silence and is suing the key amplifiers – J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk – let’s revisit the brutal online hate campaign unleashed against the Olympic gold medallist, all for being a ‘non-feminine’ woman of colour. 

The Prime Purveyors Of Hate

On August 1, after facing Khelif for a whopping 45-second battle, Italian boxer Angela Carini forfeited the match. Later, she would tell the press, “I have never been punched so hard” and shed tears in front of the camera, as anyone would have in her position. However, seeing a white woman cry on television was, of course, too much to bear for champions of women’s rights like author J. K. Rowling, who has had a history of making transphobic comments. Rowling cried foul on X about a “man” punching a woman and about men’s rights activism having gone too far. Even the owner of X, Elon Musk, could not resist chiming in. It’s another story that Musk’s own views about transgender persons are worth some scrutiny and may be best described by his estranged daughter who he refuses to acknowledge.

The Imane Khelif case underlines a hard but unsurprising truth: we are not as progressive in 2024 as we would like to believe. Sure, there are more people today who are accepting of queer rights, gender equality, and just human rights in general, but in the country called the internet, this population is sparse.

Trans Hate Is Misogyny

When two people with a combined following of over 200 million people put out such derogatory posts against a woman, their legions of followers are bound to spew out the same misinformation, often with vile language. But Rowling and Musk’s comments also fanned the fire of deep-rooted transphobia and misogyny that still burns in all stratas of human classes, races, and nationalities. 

Trans hate is just another catalyst for overall misogyny. Groups abound on Reddit and Facebook where people aligned with the Rowling ideology simply attack any female celebrity they don’t think is “woman enough” and must therefore, be a transsexual or transgender; there is a word for this group too, “transvestigators”.  For example, if you like to lift weights and be muscular, then you are not feminine, and hence make for a perfect target for these ‘tranvestigators’. Like sports? Big cars? Not dainty, petite, blonde, and light-eyed enough? Wear too much makeup as if to hide male appearance? Wear too little makeup because you are a man trying to pass off as a ‘sporty woman’? Well, women who exhibit such traits “aren’t women”, according to tranvestigators. 

Coming back to the hate campaign against Khelif. Soon after her win in Paris and its fallout, conservative-leaning media outlets and social media handles started talking about her 2023 disqualification by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failing a ‘gender eligibility test’. No matter the fact that the IBA itself was questioned by the Olympics for their ‘methods’ and that there have been accusations of corruption as well. The International Olympic Association (IOC) banned the IBA last year over its governance and finance issues, with the Olympic body allowing the boxing competition to be held in Paris. But alas, this grain of truth was buried deep under the rubble of misinformation that flooded the internet. 

A number of questions have been raised amid this storm. “How can ‘he’ be a woman?”, “IBA must have banned ‘him’ for a reason!”, “XY is a man! Only men have Testosterone!”, “He clearly looks like a man. He is built like a man.” 

Let’s try to answer them. 

Man, Woman, Other?

Khelif’s story is very Dangal-like. Indian audiences, if they read her full interview with UNICEF, may relate to the story of a young girl joining a sport that’s dominated by men. But unlike Dangal, she did not have a father ready to fight the world. She fought mostly alone in her childhood, while her family battled poverty to feed their children and sustain the family.

There’s also the fact that Algeria is a deeply religious Islamic country, where being trans may invite a host of legal challenges. If any of the ‘tranvestigators’ like Rowling or Musk followers had bothered to do a simple Google search, they would know Algeria would probably never send a ‘trans’ person to represent their country in the Olympics.  

XX or XY?

Doesn’t matter, honestly. Anyone who has studied genetics and chromosomes can answer this: the set of chromosomes that define sex (not gender) are named so based on their shape. Zoya Fatima, a teacher at Jamia Senior Secondary School, explains that women have two chromosomes shaped like ‘X’, while in men, one of them is shaped like a ‘Y’. “Genetic mutation can cause a foetus with XX to have a Y-shaped chromosome,” she explains, “They can have all female genitalia, even uterus in some cases, but ovaries in almost all cases are non-functional. But they can be mothers via IVF and have normal pregnancies. So it is incorrect to say that all XY automatically classify as male and man.”

If we were to go by the definitions recommended by conservative social media, then millions of women would immediately lose their right to be called a woman for having elevated testosterone levels. While testosterone is considered the ‘male hormone’, women produce it too – many with hormonal disorders, such as PCOS, tend to produce too much of it. Will these conditions void a woman’s right to be called a ‘woman’? 

If we consider science for our definitions, the majority of women with XY or XXY or XXYY chromosomal structures have one common denominator: a non-functional ovary. So that begs the question, is a perfectly functional ovary fundamental for being classified as a ‘woman’? If yes, what about a few thousand women who have ovarian insufficiency? Will they cease to be known as women? 

The Question Of Race

Women of colour who don’t fit conservative definitions of femininity have always had it worse. Barely a day before her match, Khelif’s Hungarian opponent, Luca Hamori, posted an incendiary picture on Instagram that showed Khelif as a ‘beast’. For centuries now, Black women have been mocked for their ‘masculinity’. Not too far in India itself, sprinter Duttee Chand had been on the receiving end of primitive gender tests. “In 2014, I challenged the IOC’s rule that a person with a higher testosterone level should not participate in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. It was noted that hormonal levels cannot increase athletic performance. I suffered a lot at that time. I faced a lot of controversy regarding my gender,” Chand told PTI after the Imane Khelif controversy erupted.

The abuse and attacks Imane Khelif has faced online will be remembered for years to come. The key takeaway is this: misinformation driven by racist, misogynist ideologies often travels much, much faster than the truth. 

(Anwiti Singh is Assistant Producer, NDTV)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

The kind of bullying and abuse Olympic boxer Imane Khelif has been subjected to makes one thing crystal clear: in the age of social media, misinformation is easiest to amplify when it’s rooted in misogyny, transphobia and racism, and amplified by verified, blue-ticked accounts on X. It has also made it clear that trans-hate will eventually come to haunt all women who do not fit traditional, conservative definitions of femininity.

Now that Imane Khelif has refused to take the online abuse in silence and is suing the key amplifiers – J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk – let’s revisit the brutal online hate campaign unleashed against the Olympic gold medallist, all for being a ‘non-feminine’ woman of colour. 

The Prime Purveyors Of Hate

On August 1, after facing Khelif for a whopping 45-second battle, Italian boxer Angela Carini forfeited the match. Later, she would tell the press, “I have never been punched so hard” and shed tears in front of the camera, as anyone would have in her position. However, seeing a white woman cry on television was, of course, too much to bear for champions of women’s rights like author J. K. Rowling, who has had a history of making transphobic comments. Rowling cried foul on X about a “man” punching a woman and about men’s rights activism having gone too far. Even the owner of X, Elon Musk, could not resist chiming in. It’s another story that Musk’s own views about transgender persons are worth some scrutiny and may be best described by his estranged daughter who he refuses to acknowledge.

The Imane Khelif case underlines a hard but unsurprising truth: we are not as progressive in 2024 as we would like to believe. Sure, there are more people today who are accepting of queer rights, gender equality, and just human rights in general, but in the country called the internet, this population is sparse.

Trans Hate Is Misogyny

When two people with a combined following of over 200 million people put out such derogatory posts against a woman, their legions of followers are bound to spew out the same misinformation, often with vile language. But Rowling and Musk’s comments also fanned the fire of deep-rooted transphobia and misogyny that still burns in all stratas of human classes, races, and nationalities. 

Trans hate is just another catalyst for overall misogyny. Groups abound on Reddit and Facebook where people aligned with the Rowling ideology simply attack any female celebrity they don’t think is “woman enough” and must therefore, be a transsexual or transgender; there is a word for this group too, “transvestigators”.  For example, if you like to lift weights and be muscular, then you are not feminine, and hence make for a perfect target for these ‘tranvestigators’. Like sports? Big cars? Not dainty, petite, blonde, and light-eyed enough? Wear too much makeup as if to hide male appearance? Wear too little makeup because you are a man trying to pass off as a ‘sporty woman’? Well, women who exhibit such traits “aren’t women”, according to tranvestigators. 

Coming back to the hate campaign against Khelif. Soon after her win in Paris and its fallout, conservative-leaning media outlets and social media handles started talking about her 2023 disqualification by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failing a ‘gender eligibility test’. No matter the fact that the IBA itself was questioned by the Olympics for their ‘methods’ and that there have been accusations of corruption as well. The International Olympic Association (IOC) banned the IBA last year over its governance and finance issues, with the Olympic body allowing the boxing competition to be held in Paris. But alas, this grain of truth was buried deep under the rubble of misinformation that flooded the internet. 

A number of questions have been raised amid this storm. “How can ‘he’ be a woman?”, “IBA must have banned ‘him’ for a reason!”, “XY is a man! Only men have Testosterone!”, “He clearly looks like a man. He is built like a man.” 

Let’s try to answer them. 

Man, Woman, Other?

Khelif’s story is very Dangal-like. Indian audiences, if they read her full interview with UNICEF, may relate to the story of a young girl joining a sport that’s dominated by men. But unlike Dangal, she did not have a father ready to fight the world. She fought mostly alone in her childhood, while her family battled poverty to feed their children and sustain the family.

There’s also the fact that Algeria is a deeply religious Islamic country, where being trans may invite a host of legal challenges. If any of the ‘tranvestigators’ like Rowling or Musk followers had bothered to do a simple Google search, they would know Algeria would probably never send a ‘trans’ person to represent their country in the Olympics.  

XX or XY?

Doesn’t matter, honestly. Anyone who has studied genetics and chromosomes can answer this: the set of chromosomes that define sex (not gender) are named so based on their shape. Zoya Fatima, a teacher at Jamia Senior Secondary School, explains that women have two chromosomes shaped like ‘X’, while in men, one of them is shaped like a ‘Y’. “Genetic mutation can cause a foetus with XX to have a Y-shaped chromosome,” she explains, “They can have all female genitalia, even uterus in some cases, but ovaries in almost all cases are non-functional. But they can be mothers via IVF and have normal pregnancies. So it is incorrect to say that all XY automatically classify as male and man.”

If we were to go by the definitions recommended by conservative social media, then millions of women would immediately lose their right to be called a woman for having elevated testosterone levels. While testosterone is considered the ‘male hormone’, women produce it too – many with hormonal disorders, such as PCOS, tend to produce too much of it. Will these conditions void a woman’s right to be called a ‘woman’? 

If we consider science for our definitions, the majority of women with XY or XXY or XXYY chromosomal structures have one common denominator: a non-functional ovary. So that begs the question, is a perfectly functional ovary fundamental for being classified as a ‘woman’? If yes, what about a few thousand women who have ovarian insufficiency? Will they cease to be known as women? 

The Question Of Race

Women of colour who don’t fit conservative definitions of femininity have always had it worse. Barely a day before her match, Khelif’s Hungarian opponent, Luca Hamori, posted an incendiary picture on Instagram that showed Khelif as a ‘beast’. For centuries now, Black women have been mocked for their ‘masculinity’. Not too far in India itself, sprinter Duttee Chand had been on the receiving end of primitive gender tests. “In 2014, I challenged the IOC’s rule that a person with a higher testosterone level should not participate in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. It was noted that hormonal levels cannot increase athletic performance. I suffered a lot at that time. I faced a lot of controversy regarding my gender,” Chand told PTI after the Imane Khelif controversy erupted.

The abuse and attacks Imane Khelif has faced online will be remembered for years to come. The key takeaway is this: misinformation driven by racist, misogynist ideologies often travels much, much faster than the truth. 

(Anwiti Singh is Assistant Producer, NDTV)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Paris, France:

France has launched a cyberbullying probe following a complaint by Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif, who was at the centre of a gender controversy at the Paris Olympic Games, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The investigation was opened Tuesday into “cyberharrassment” following the high-profile gender row at the Games, the Paris public prosecutor’s office told AFP.

The athlete’s lawyer Nabil Boudi said last week that Khelif, 25, had filed a complaint for online harassment, calling it a “fight for justice.”

“The investigation will determine who was behind this misogynist, racist and sexist campaign, but will also have to concern itself with those who fed the online lynching,” he said at the time.

Khelif won the women’s 66kg final against China’s Yang Liu in a unanimous points decision, having been the focus of intense scrutiny in the French capital during the Olympics.

Together with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won the 57kg women’s final, Khelif was disqualified from last year’s world championships after they failed gender eligibility testing.

However, they were cleared to compete in Paris, setting the stage for one of the biggest controversies of the Games.

The International Boxing Association’s Russian president Umar Kremlev has targeted both athletes, claiming that Khelif and Lin had undergone “genetic testing that shows that these are men”.

The IBA was responsible for the world championships in 2023 that Lin and Khelif were thrown out of, but the IOC cleared them to box in Paris.

Khelif said she is “a woman like any other.”

“I was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman,” she told reporters about her eligibility.

Russia’s team has been banned from the Paris Olympics over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Paris:

With Tom Cruise widely predicted to engage in a death-defying stunt on the roof of the Stade de France, Sunday’s Paris Olympics closing ceremony promises a memorable passing of the five rings flag to Los Angeles.

Two weeks after the unprecedented complexity of the opening ceremony along the River Seine, there are big expectations for the show to wrap up the Games.

The closing ceremony will be a much shorter affair and will take place — in more traditional fashion — at France’s national stadium.

Artistic director Thomas Jolly has revealed it will combine “wonder” with “dystopia”, suggesting some darker elements than the joyful and impertinent tone of the opening ceremony that drew a record audience of more than a billion worldwide.

Offering a sneak peak to journalists recently, Jolly said he saw the Games as a “fragile monument” and wanted to imagine what would happen if they “disappeared and someone was rebuilding them in a distant future”.

One sequence features “travellers from another space-time who arrive on Earth and discover vestiges from the history of the Olympics”, with acrobats restoring the famous five rings of the Games.

It will reportedly feature more than 100 dancers, circus artists and other performers, with the promise of aerial displays, giant sets and spectacular lighting.

Destination Hollywood 

The opening ceremony featured some huge stars including Lady Gaga, Celine Dion and Aya Nakamura, but some big celebrities are also expected Sunday.

Cruise has been at several Olympic events and the most daredevil of Hollywood stars would be a natural connection between Paris and the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

US media have reported that Cruise has been preparing a spectacular stunt to pick up the Olympic flag and transfer it to LA, with video sequences already filmed on both sides of the Atlantic.

There have been no shortage of Hollywood stars in attendance for the Games who might also play a role, including Snoop Dogg, Eva Mendes, Ryan Gosling and Sharon Stone.

There are unconfirmed rumours that Beyonce — a fervent supporter of the US team on social media — may perform.

Two of France’s biggest musical exports — Air and Phoenix — are already lined up to play, according to Le Parisien newspaper.

Organisers will be anxious to avoid a repeat of the controversy sparked by the opening ceremony, which featured drag queens in a sequence that some Christians and conservatives thought mocked the Biblical story of The Last Supper.

Organisers insisted it was a reference to Greek gods> But Jolly and other members of the team have since been victims of social media harassment, triggering police investigations and condemnation from French President Emmanuel Macron.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Paris:

Forty-six seconds into her match against Algeria’s Imane Khelif, Italian boxer Angela Carini abandoned the bout. She left the ring in tears, but the result also caused a huge uproar on social media, with many accusing authorities of “allowing a man”, referring to Imane, to compete in the women’s category.

British author and philanthropist JK Rowling called the sporting establishment “misogynist.”

“Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered,” read the post shared by JK Rowling on X (formerly Twitter).

Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered. #Paris2024pic.twitter.com/Q5SbKiksXQ

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2024

Former professional boxer Barry McGuigan also took a dig at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its alleged insensitivity towards women. “Shocking dangerous and profoundly unfair on Women & Girls. IOC hang you head in shame,” McGuigan wrote.

Shocking dangerous and profoundly unfair on Women & Girls. IOC hang you head in shame ???? https://t.co/j8KxNEXlCm

— Barry McGuigan (@ClonesCyclone) August 1, 2024

Elon Musk shared former American competitive swimmer Riley Gaines’ post that claimed “men don’t belong in women’s sports.” Musk reacted to the post by writing, “Absolutely.”

Absolutely https://t.co/twccUEOW9e

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2024

However, there were many who defended Imane and said she was born woman and had not undergone any gender-affirming surgery.

“Stop spreading false information to stir up hatred, if you want to write fiction do another book on wizards,” read a comment under Ms Rowling’s tweet.

Stop spreading false information to stir up hatred, if you want to write fiction do another book on wizards

— Matt Zarb-Cousin (@mattzarb) August 1, 2024

Another social media user pointed out that Imane Khelif was a female-born woman fighter, perfectly eligible to compete in women’s sports from a gender point of view. “She’s born a female, please do not belittle her achievement as a woman and call her a man. It’s not right. This mass misinformation needs to stop,” the post read.

Imane Khelif is a female-born woman fighter, she’s perfectly eligible to compete in women’s sports from a gender point of view

She’s born a female, please do not belittle her achievement as a woman and call her a man. It’s not right. This mass misinformation needs to stop. https://t.co/FSQOpxMQJGpic.twitter.com/Ft4kEz4Mxr

— ???????? ???????? (@Fs_FTBL) August 1, 2024

“She is a biological woman,” read another comment

She is a biological woman

— Dittie (@DittiePE) August 1, 2024

This social media user suggested people research before tweeting abuse.

The misinformation that’s spreading about Imane Khelif is so unfair. She is not trans. She is not a man. Can you guys research before you start tweeting abuse please? It’s not hard?! This is what they did to Caster Semenya.

— Lillz (@LillzTIL) August 1, 2024

Imane Khelif is an amateur boxer who clinched a silver medal at the International Boxing Association’s 2022 World Championships. Khelif is one of the two boxers permitted to fight at the Olympics despite being disqualified from the women’s world championships last year for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests.

According to the Associated Press, the International Boxing Association disqualified Imane from last year’s championships right before the Algerian’s gold-medal bout because of elevated levels of testosterone. Khelif will next feature in a quarterfinal bout against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori on Saturday.

South Korea’s Olympic team. File
| Photo Credit: AP

South Korea’s Sports Ministry on July 27 expressed regret over a gaffe during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in which South Korean athletes were incorrectly introduced as North Korean. Further, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) apologised for the gaffe, on July 27.

“We deeply apologise for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” the IOC said in a post on its official Korean-language X account.

As the South Korean delegation rode a boat on the Seine River and entered the ceremony as the 48th participating nation, the French-speaking presenter introduced them using the official name for North Korea: “Republique populaire democratique de Coree” in French, then “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” in English.

The error sparked displeased reactions in South Korea, a global cultural and technological powerhouse that is technically still at war with the nuclear-armed and impoverished North, as the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

“South Korea’s Sports Ministry expresses regret over the announcement during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the South Korean delegation was introduced as the North Korean team,” it said in a statement.

“Second Vice-Sports Minister Jang Mi-ran, a 2008 Olympic weightlifting champion, has asked for a meeting with International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach to discuss the matter,” it added.

The Sports Ministry has also asked the Foreign Ministry to “deliver a strong protest to the French side” over the issue.

South Korea’s National Olympic Committee plans to meet with the Paris Olympics Organising Committee and the IOC to voice their protest, request measures to prevent a recurrence, and send an official letter of protest under the name of the head of its delegation, according to the Sports Ministry.

During the Olympic opening ceremony in Paris, North Korea, which joined the ceremony as the 153rd nation, was correctly introduced with the country’s official name.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North bolstering military ties with Russia while sending thousands of trash-carrying balloons to the South.

In response, Seoul’s military blasts K-pop and anti-regime messages from border loudspeakers and recently resumed live-fire drills on border islands and near the demilitarised zone that divides the Korean peninsula.

Paris:
Paris is decked up to host a grand opening ceremony later today for the 2024 Olympics, but went into a tizzy after the rail network was crippled by “malicious acts”.

Here are the top updates on France’s rail network disruption:

Story so far: Paris is gearing up to host the 2024 Olympic Games from July 22 to August 11, when 10,500 athletes from over 200 countries will participate in 32 sports. Two nations – Russia and Belarus – will not be represented due to a ban imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus will, however, be part of the Games, competing as individual neutral athletes (AINs) without the flags, anthems and emblems of their countries. Their participation is also subject to a thorough vetting process as per IOC’s eligibility criteria. Russia and its ally Belarus have faced global condemnation and strict sanctions over the Ukraine war.

However, another nation which is part of a different war has not been banned from the Olympics, faces minimal economic sanctions, and evenly split support and condemnation. Israel, whose war on Gaza has killed 38,000 Palestinians in less than 10 months, will be represented by 88 athletes in the Games.

Why are there calls to ban Israel from the Paris Olympics?

Since October 2023, Israel has waged war on Gaza with the objective of dismantling Hamas — the Islamist militant group controlling the enclave. Laying siege to Gaza, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have carpet-bombed the area, killing over 38,000 Palestinians, including 15,000 children, and displacing nearly all of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million.

IDF has also launched continuous air-strikes from Northern Gaza and steadily pushed deeper into Rafah in the south, claiming to have killed or captured about 14,000 Hamas fighters till date. Israel’s attack is in retaliation to an attack by Hamas on October 7, when militants breached the Israel-Gaza security barriers via motorcycles and bulldozers and launched a 5000-strong rocket strike, killing more than 1100 Israelis and taking hundreds hostage.

Cease-fire talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar, and backed by the U.S, are currently on hold as both parties are yet to agree on terms regarding hostage release, withdrawal of troops and other issues. Images of cities in Gaza reduced to rubble, heavy civilian casualties and the miserable living conditions of survivors in refugee camps have earned Israel global condemnation.

Ten nations led by South Africa lodged a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Tel Aviv of committing a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The ICJ has ordered Israel to take preventive measures to stop the genocide in Gaza, but did not call for an immediate ceasefire. Several college campuses across Europe, Asia and the U.S. have seen pro-Gaza protests by students.

Citing these reasons, calls to ban Israel from participating in the Paris Olympics 2024 have emerged from several Muslim activist groups, sporting bodies, activists, and politicians. They argue that till Israel complies with international ceasefire demands, Israeli sport associations, including its teams, clubs, and participants, must be barred from participating in international competitions.

Who is calling to ban Israel from the Olympics?

Days after videos of Israeli soldiers turning one Gaza’s oldest sporting facilities— Yarmouk Stadium — into a makeshift camp to hold Palestinian detainees were released, the Jordan Football Association called upon the global sporting community to ban Israel from participating inpopular competitions.

Similarly, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) wrote to the IOC and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) seeking a probe into “occupation crimes against sports and athletes in Palestine.” The PFA claims that over 400 sportspersons, coaches and officials have been killed or wounded by the IDF since the war began.

In February, a group of 26 French lawmakers (chiefly belonging to left-wing parties) wrote to the IOC, seeking to stop Israel from participating in the Games. Similar to Russian and Belarusian athletes, Israel’s athletes must participate under a neutral flag, the lawmakers insisted.

Several human rights organisations, activists, and celebrities too have sought Israel’s exclusion from the Games. Citing IOC’s charter, which states that “every individual must have access to the practice of sport, without discrimination of any kind in respect of internationally recognized human rights within the remit of the Olympic Movement,” groups have alleged that Israel’s war has violated the rights of Palestinian athletes.

Are these different from calls to ban Russia?

On February 28, 2022, four days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the IOC banned the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games. Calling the attack a “blatant violation of the Olympic Truce,” the IOC allowed such athletes to compete as AINs.

“We are committed to fair competitions for everybody without any discrimination,” the IOC said in a statement. While individual athletes who meet all anti-doping criteria and have not actively supported the war in Ukraine are allowed to compete in the Games, Russian and Belarusian teams cannot.

IOC’s statement came in the wake of global sanctions by top European nations – United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, Norway, and Sweden and other global powers like the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Japan. Russia was already banned by the IOC due to a state-sponsored doping programme, and its athletes had attended the 2021 and 2022 Games under the name ‘Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).

Calls to ban Israel have arisen after almost four months since it first attacked Gaza. Moreover, most of the above-mentioned powers have not sanctioned Israel (economically or otherwise). Turkey has refused to resume trade with Israel until a ceasefire is secured. The U.K., U.S, Canada and France have sanctioned some Israeli settlers in the West Bank — an Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.

The U.S, Germany and Italy have continued to sell arms and provide military aid to Israel despite global calls to halt this. While both U.S. and Germany have called on Israel and Hamas to sign a ceasefire, Washington has vetoed several U.N. resolutions condemning Israel. Hence, the calls to ban Israel from the Games have not had the same impact as those calling for a similar ban of Russia.

What are the reactions to the calls for a ban?

Sparse protests seeking Israel’s ban from the Paris Games are scattered globally. In Switzerland, protestors smeared red handprints on the IOC’s office in Lausanne to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In France, which is home to the second-highest Muslim population in Western Europe, protestors have camped outside the IOC’s office in Paris seeking a boycott of Israel.

Banners reading ‘Genocide is not a sport’ and ‘Boycott Israel’ have been displayed by pro-Palestine protestors camping outside IOC’s office in Saint-Denis, outside Paris.

Eight Palestinian athletes participating in the Games have been touted as a ‘symbol of Palestine’s resistance’. “Through this participation, we want to present the suffering of the Palestinian people and the unprecedented killing taking place in Gaza,” said Palestine Olympic committee head Jibril Rajoub. Of the eight athletes, one secured a place through regular qualifying and seven were given special invitations.

Calls to ban Israel from sporting events is not new. Palestine-based group Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), which has been seeking global sanctions on Israel since 2005 for its occupation in West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, has repeatedly called upon FIFA and IOC to ban Israel from their events. It has also condemned FIFA for sanctioning clubs which have supported Palestine.

What does IOC say?

In response to these calls for a ban, Paris 2024 Olympics Organising Committee chief Tony Estanguet told Reuters in January, “You have to stay in your place, not think that the Games are a magic wand that will solve all the problems and armed conflicts in our world.” He added that the Games can pacify relations and open the door for dialogue. Similarly, in March, IOC president Thomas Bach confirmed that Israel faces no threat to its Olympics status despite the war in Gaza.

Since the 1972 Munich Olympics, when eleven Israelis (sportsmen, coaches and a referee) were killed by Palestinian militants, security arrangements for Israeli athletes have been tight. This year, arrangements have been made such that Israeli cyclists and marathon runners will compete in secured venues in Paris.

With the Gaza and Ukraine wars in focus in Paris, the Olympic Games find themselves yet again cast under a dark political shadow.

For the average cricket fan, the news that the sport will be featured at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 is welcome, even inspiring. Modern players from Steve Smith and Trent Boult to Ravichandran Ashwin and Shubhman Gill have said they are all for it. An Olympic gold is the most coveted honour in international sport even if world championships are sometimes seen to be on a plane of their own.

But administrators seldom think like the average fan – their pulls and pressures are different.

For long the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was opposed to Olympics participation for a variety of reasons, as were the players themselves. The International Cricket Council (ICC) was not too keen either, seeing the quadrennial event cutting into their already crowded calendar.

Unique and independent

The BCCI was unhappy to be dealing with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), and coming under its remit which included following the rules under which the national sports federations function. Cricket’s governing body sees itself as unique and independent, raising its own funds without any recourse to handouts from the government.

It is comfortable in the knowledge that cricket is the most popular sport in the country with more sponsors, keener battles over television rights and in effect control over the international game. The BCCI made it clear that the cricket team would participate only if there was no interference from the IOA.

The players were unhappy about the random dope testing which the World Ant-Doping Agency might subject them to. The argument was one of privacy being breached if the players were forced to inform the anti-doping agencies, either national or the world body, about their whereabouts.

A few months ago, the BCCI secretary Jay Shah had said, “Once cricket is added in the Olympics, India will be participating,” adding, “The BCCI and the ICC are on the same page as far as participation in the Olympics is concerned.” This is good news for the globalisation of a sport too few countries play at the highest level.

Commercial bonanza

The International Olympic Committee is fully aware of the draw cricket has for the Asian countries, especially in the subcontinent. Its motivation is as much sporting as commercial. The Guardian newspaper has calculated that the current Olympic broadcast rights in India worth around $20 million (for the Paris Olympics in 2024) would rise to ten times that figure with cricket added.

For lesser cricketing countries whose coffers aren’t overflowing, the Olympics will come as a boon because of the support they would receive from their governments, and from the IOC itself.

Cricket was last played at the Olympics in its second edition in 1900. One match was played where England beat France for the gold medal. The T20 format, so successful at the Asian Games, is most likely to be used at the Olympics (men and women).

England, another country initially reluctant to field a team at the Olympics, might push for the Hundred format which is played in that country. The lack of an international competition and rankings in the Hundred or the T10 might give the nod to T20 which has a World Cup.

No dilution

And that could be an issue too, for the ICC might not want their own World Cups to be diluted or replaced by the Olympics as the top tournament in the sport. Perhaps it could do what FIFA, the governing body of football did, setting the age limit at 23 and allowing only three players older in a team.

The call to have cricket at LA will be officially ratified at the 141st IOC session which begins on Sunday. That it will be held in Mumbai might be indication that ratification is a mere formality. Especially now that the BCCI is on board.

Cricket’s re-entry into the Olympics is fitting for the second most popular sport in the world behind football, and with a fan base of nearly three billion people.

By the 2028 Olympics, Rohit Sharma would have turned 40, Virat Kohli would be heading there and K.L. Rahul would have blown out 36 candles on his large birthday cake. Shubhman Gill will still be only 29. Five years is not such a long time to wait, after all.