Every four years, the majority of the world tunes in to watch the best of the best compete in up to forty different sports. This year, the Olympics were hosted in Paris, where viewers witnessed their favorite athletes compete against each other at historic and beautiful locations. However, with popularity and raw skill comes controversy.
Every Olympics brings disputes to the sports community. The 2024 Olympics brought with it the questioning of some female athletes’ gender or harassing their body types. A few athletes were attacked on social media after the Olympics by regular citizens and well-known celebrities alike. Two female athletes in particular, Imane Khelif and Ilona Maher, were the main targets of keyboard warriors worldwide.
Imane Khelif won gold in welterweight women’s boxing in Paris. An ESPN article stated that her match against Italian boxer Angela Carini, which ended in 46 seconds, brought the entitled internet dwellers out of the woodwork. Khelif’s swift victory caused people to conclude that she is not a woman, but a man or trans person. All over social media, the masses shared their ridiculous opinions on the matter. Author J.K. Rowling, known for her negative opinions on the transgender community, made a post on X about Khelif’s victory stating, “Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who [sic] knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head…” Outside of the Olympics, Khelif competes in the International Boxing Association. Last year Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting reportedly failed a gender confirmation test, a test that did not exist in previous years. Khelif expressed her thoughts on the matter in an article from NPR stating, “I don’t care about criticism. I care about competition. God willing, I will perform well in the final.” Other athletes were faced with slander regarding their body type.
U.S. Women’s rugby player Ilona Maher became an iconic symbol in women’s sports after her performance in this year’s Olympic games. Maher has been shamed for her “masculine” physique, but instead of conforming to what society expects, she encourages girls just like her to accept their bodies. Maher sent a message to all of those women and girls via an Instagram caption. The message reads, “Dear girl with the big shoulders, you are not undesirable. You are not built like a linebacker. You are not manly. You are not unattractive. You are beautiful. You are imposing. You are powerful. You are magnificent.” Outside of her rugby career, she models and is currently competing on Dancing with the Stars.
Both of these women have worked so hard to get where they are today. Not everyone has what it takes to become an outstanding Olympic athlete, but these two do. They have grown into iconic symbols for girls like them all around the world. There will always be haters on the internet, some with big names and familiar faces and some who are just random people on TikTok or Instagram. A lot of these internet trolls probably don’t have what it takes to compete at the highest level, so instead, they sit on their couches at home with their bags of chips and throw hate at the people who do.
