Just like many TV personalities this week, Pat McAfee weighed in on the controversy surrounding Olympic boxer Imane Khelif. His rant about the Algerian athlete quickly received significant backlash.
One of the main reasons McAfee faced criticism on social media was his apparent lack of thorough research before discussing Khelif’s gender and the concerns about her eligibility.
“The women’s boxing, I haven’t done enough research,” McAfee admitted at the start of his rant. “I saw that the International Boxing Association deemed a couple of the boxers that are in the Olympics, still in the Olympics, not eligible to box in women’s boxing because they had too much testosterone or they were deemed a male, I believe, from XY chromosome, from the research that I’ve done.
“So now we’re watching the Olympics, and this Italian girl has made it, she’s committed her whole life to boxing, committed her whole life, this girl. Her dad passed away – I do believe – very recently. I assume her and her dad hitting, I assume that’s the big story. And then all of a sudden, she finds herself in the Olympics, moving forward, and she has to fight somebody from Algeria who has been banned from other competitions because not woman enough to compete.”
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On Friday’s edition of “The Pat McAfee Show,” the former NFL punter explained why he questioned Khelif’s eligibility.
“We are striving to unify everybody, legitimately, because that’s what we feel like sports are,” McAfee said. “But also every once in a while, we gotta say, oh whoa whoa whoa.”
McAfee continued, “I want to let people know, all of ours is with good intentions and trying to make the world be on the same page.”
The controversy highlights the broader conversation about gender and eligibility in sports, a topic that has become increasingly prominent in recent years.
McAfee’s comments, whether well-intentioned or not, have added fuel to the fire, drawing attention to the complexities and sensitivities surrounding this issue.
As for Khelif, she remains focused on her upcoming match against Anna Luca Hamori this Saturday.
Whether McAfee will comment further on Khelif’s performance remains to be seen, but the debate he sparked underscores the ongoing challenges faced by athletes and governing bodies in navigating gender and competition in sports.
