Ephesians 5:25, 1Peter 3:7 “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, giving honor to her as to the weaker vessel.”

XY athlete Inman Khelif has won the Olympic Gold Medal in the 145-pound woman’s boxing class. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed Khelif to compete. The International Boxing Association (IBA) disqualified Khelif to compete against women for his XY chromosomes and high testosterone levels.

Why is this important? It directly correlates to power and strength. Strength is the ability to exert force. Power is the ability to produce force at a high velocity. Strength is a physical ability. Power is amplified strength. It is seen in electricity, engines, sports, and gender.

On average, men are stronger than women. Research published by California Lutheran University shows a female’s upper body strength is only 25-55% of a male’s, while their lower body strength is 70% a male’s. The reason men are stronger than women is they have larger muscle fibers than women and more of them.

Men also have an advantage over women in building strength and muscle mass because of their much higher testosterone level. This has all been exposed now in the case of Inman Khelif and Olympic Boxing.

Professor Doriane Lambelet Coleman, Distinguished Professor of Law at Duke University, provides us with her analysis in her article ‘XY Athletes in Women’s Olympic Boxing: The Paris 2024 Controversy Explained – the historical, political, and medical context of the Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting cases.’

“’High T’ is a way testosterone levels outside the female range are described when defining an athlete as female. Male and female T levels diverge at age 13. There is no overlap in male and female T levels after early adolescence. Doping and being male are two ways that an adult athlete might have ‘high T.’ There is no indication that Khelif identifies as transgender. This makes sense since this is what was written on his birth certificate – and because being transgender is generally a matter of self-identification.

In sports, Khelif’s case is treated as a DSD (disorders of sex development) case. But the only DSD of concern to sports are with genetic males who are androgen sensitive. Androgens are the primary driver of sex differences in athletic performance.

Athletes with androgen sensitivity have XY chromosomes; they have testes that produce testosterone well outside of the normal female range. Their androgen receptors read and process their ‘high T.’ As a result, their bodies masculinize through childhood and puberty that matter for sport. Thereafter, their T levels have performance-enhancing effects. When these XY athletes compete as females, they have male advantage.

‘High T’ in an athlete who seeks to compete in the female category is code in international sports for either doping with androgens or being biologically male with bioavailable androgens. There is no indication Khelif is doping.” With these facts, why is the IOC rejecting the IBA’s position? Professor Coleman explains.

“The IOC’s position is that because Khelif, who may have XY DSD with male advantage, identified at birth as female and continues to identify as such, he is a woman. The IOC goes with the gender on his passport, which says his legal gender is female. This is the IOC’s sex test for eligibility for the female category.

The IBA has said he is a genetic male with male advantage, which means his T is bioavailable – they are androgen sensitive – they are masculinized in the ways that matter in the arena. The reason many federations and the IOC itself for years used T as the test for sex is that it is an excellent one: neither ovaries nor adrenal glands produce T in the male range. Only testes do. If you are looking for biological sex rather than legal gender, it is certainly more accurate than a passport.

TheIOC has chosen to align itself with trans-rights advocates and against advocates for a sex-based female category. The IOC is not just at odds with the IBA but also with some of the Olympic Movement’s most important federations like World Athletics and World Aquatics. Unlike the IOC, these federations prioritize fairness by preserving the female category for female athletes.”

As this week’s verse shows, the Bible aligns perfectly with the facts. Women must have their own sports. On such a global stage as the Olympics, we as citizens – and especially as Christians – must decide how much more we are willing to take before we take a stand and push back against lies and for the truth.

“The Evidence of Faith’s Substance” _ Article #617