Friday August 9, 2024
Ramla Ali is a professional boxer, model and activist. Selected as one of TIME Magazine’s women of the year and a former ELLE UK cover star, she was the first Somali boxer to compete at the Olympic Games and the first to win an international gold medal for the country in boxing. In 2021, she founded Sisters Club, a Not-For-Profit Charity providing free sports classes for women.
After two boxers have been dragged into a gender eligibility row following their inclusion in this years Olympics, Here, Ali shares a call for compassion.
I feel compelled to speak out on behalf of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting, Olympic boxers who have been attacked by critics questioning their gender and eligibility to compete in women’s boxing. The conversation around these women isn’t a discussion, it’s a witch hunt. I know Imane and I feel so sad for her. She’s a brilliant boxer and a good person, and nobody deserves the bullying she is currently being subjected to.
I am a professional boxer, I competed in the 2020 Olympics, and Imane and I have sparred before in training camps. She is strong, and she is tall. And yes, taller opponents do have an advantage because it’s harder to get in their range. But that’s why I loved being paired with her in the ring; it was a challenge. In boxing, you always have to play to your strengths. If you’re strong, you use that to your advantage. If you have good footwork, you use it to move around the ring quickly. If you’re fast, you might fight defensively and use an opponent’s own strength against them; every athlete must leverage their unique abilities to succeed. That’s the same in any sport.
They call our discipline ‘the sweet science’. Preparing for a fight involves studying your opponent’s previous bouts. You and your coach analyse YouTube videos and develop a strategy. For example, if you’re against a taller opponent, you work hard to get inside their range with close combat. The goal is to take away their height advantage and prevent them from landing straight shots.
Imane has had 40 fights, with only nine losses and five stoppages [when a boxer or referee calls for the fight to end]. I’ve stopped more girls than that. This scrutiny over her performance is unfair, the scrutiny over her body is a violation. As Thomas Bach, head of the International Olympic Committee pointed out, Imane has competed her whole life as a woman. The calls to disqualify her are truly unfair.
This week, the IBA [International Boxing Association] held a press conference. For those who don’t know, it’s a corrupt and controversial organisation that has been banned by the Olympics. The whole thing was a total shambles, journalists walked out. They said Imane and Lin failed tests, but they were unable to share details or results of these tests. The head of the IBA has now offered $50,000 to every opponent Imane and Lin faced in the Olympics, just to try and prove a point.
I am not fundamentally against testing, but that is a complicated and sensitive conversation that needs to happen prior to a fight, not after. If you’re going to test these two women, test everyone. It shouldn’t be used selectively to bully athletes. We’re talking about real women’s lives – and Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting are women. Imane’s father had to show childhood pictures to prove it. It’s horrible that so many people believe the fake news circulating online. Can you imagine how she feels, walking around the Olympic village, aware that everyone is judging her?
I watched Imane’s fight. She hit her opponent, Italian boxer Angela Carini, with two clean shots, and that’s all. Imane herself said in an interview that she has been in training camps with Angela and Team Italy many times, over many years. They know her well, they would have been familiar with her strength. Why are they only choosing to question her identity now?
I once read that Michael Phelps produces less lactic acid than the average person, giving him more endurance when he swims. Nobody called to ban him from swimming, he is celebrated — and rightly so. When it comes to boxing, I’m sure many of us would test positive for higher testosterone levels. Who decides what the appropriate amount is for a woman? The Olympics are about celebrating difference, that’s the whole point; Olympians are the world’s super humans.
As my own profile has grown over the years, I’ve been at the receiving end of a lot of online racism and Islamophobia. That’s without being embroiled at the centre of a culture war. I can only image what Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting are going through. These women deserve to compete without prejudice. We must uphold the integrity and fairness of sports, and make sure that athletes are judged on their performance, not on baseless accusations that feed into harmful narratives.
