Hi all! This thread is the thread for covering Combat Sports at the Olympics this year. This includes the following sports: Boxing, Judo, Taekwondo, Wrestling. Feel free to discuss all the ins and outs of the sports, any predictions you may have, support for the athletes and anything else you notice as we kick off on Saturday!

Only one of Team GB's boxers made it past the first round but that is how it is sometimes! Nice to see Cindy Ngamba from the refugee team win her heat as well.

 

Sounds like the bigger news is the controversy over allowing athletes with heightened testosterone levels to take part in the women's event - Angela Carini pulling out after 46 seconds in her fight against Imane Khelif.

This controversy isn't going to go away.

This stuff with the boxers is going to become a circus, especially if they keep winning and getting near the medals

This stuff with the boxers is going to become a circus, especially if they keep winning and getting near the medals

 

Agreed. Personally I am against Trans women competing in sports - I don't think it is fair.

 

However in this case, I think it is being deliberately stirred up. Not sure Algeria is the country that would regularly promote a trans athlete? I could be completely wrong here, but pretty sure the country is very conservative.

I don't think she is transgender though? Just a woman who happens to have higher than usual testosterone levels.

Agreed. Personally I am against Trans women competing in sports - I don't think it is fair.

 

However in this case, I think it is being deliberately stirred up. Not sure Algeria is the country that would regularly promote a trans athlete? I could be completely wrong here, but pretty sure the country is very conservative.

 

They aren't trans athletes in these boxing matches. They're DSD athletes (like Caster Semenya). They're banned from competing in IBA events due to their testosterone being too high.

 

Athletics has banned DSD athletes in women's events and boxing really should have done the same thing - as it has done outside the Olympics. I understand the DSD athletes feeling hard done by bit it but it's the only practical solution.

The amount of transphobia I see on social media is appalling :angry: To me, the hate sounds like women have to fit certain societal norms in order to pass being a woman. Absolutely ridiculous...

To be quite frank, any trans people who have been taking hormone therapy (and therefore on a regular if not harder playing field) should be competing, and not receiving endless abuse for daring to exist in their sport. You get crocodile tears about how they're taking some poor woman's place away - but 1) that's sport and other athletes beat you sometimes, get over it and 2) trans women are women, would anyone be saying this about any other kind of women? Not unless they're real racists, and it's exactly how white women used to treat black women.

 

Hilarious that the idiots are going after cisgender women now, though that in itself is partly an anti-WOC movement, all this insisting that Khalif is a man - she was literally born female you freaks.

It’s been disgusting to see the usual suspects going after Khelif. It’s confirmed what it’s always been about-a sexist view of what a woman should be. Anyone not conforming, to them, is a man. Even if they’ve only ever been female.

 

Carini has now apologised for her reaction towards Khelif. She at least has the excuse of having been in that moment emotionally upset. I’ll just wait here for Rowling to apologise.

I actually can't believe what I've been reading and the amount of people willing to jump on a bandwagon full of misinformation and hatred is ridiculous. Not least of all Jk Rowling trying to get another five minutes of fame by stoking the flames. I can't imagine how Khelif feels. It's disgusting!

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is guaranteed at least a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics after beating Hungarian Luca Anna Hamori in the 66kg category.

Really rooting for her to get gold now. Those tears after she won and was guaranteed a medal... damn, credit to her for keeping composure after weathering a storm of bigots.

It has far far worse than the furore that Castor Semanya got when she first completed at the World Athletics Championships in 2009.

Michael Phelps also has unusually high levels of testosterone as well as other unusual traits that make him a particularly good swimmer. At 5ft 8, I was never likely to be a great tennis player. Many successful sports people have particular attributes that give them an advantage.

Going back to Team GB, our last man standing Lewis Richardson won his quarterfinal today so we're guaranteed a medal in the boxing!

Cindy Ngamba has also secured the Refugee Olympic Team their first ever Olympic medal! A great result.

The Cuban Mijain Lopez Nunez has become the first person in the history of the Olympics to win a gold medal in the same event (Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling 130kg) across five consecutive Olympic Games, an impressive achievement. He then left his shoes in the ring which signals his retirement.

Didn't Steve Redgrave do that in rowing?

Not in the same event, the pairs and the fours would be counted as different events.