ESPN Analyst Tweets And Instantly Deletes ‘Protect Our Daughters’ Amid Women’s Boxing Controversy

Following in the footsteps of his outspoken colleague Pat McAfee, ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky took to social media to weigh in on the women’s boxing “controversy” at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The controversy stems from Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, whom right-wing personalities such as McAfee, Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have accused of being transgender.

Khelif, 25 years old, has never identified as transgender or intersex and hails from a country, Algeria, where being transgender is illegal and would subject her to literal persecution and potential prosecution. If someone was trying to hide their transgender identity, competing on the world stage of the Olympics would not be the way to do it.

Nevertheless, on Thursday, August 1, Orlovsky tweeted and then quickly deleted the phrase “Protect our daughters,” an obvious reference to the unfolding Olympics controversy given its position at the forefront of sports media on Thursday.

Not even 15 minutes after Orlovsky’s tweet, his NFL Live co-host Mina Kimes chimed in to provide some clarity, with many of the replies saying something to the effect of “Tell your buddy Orlovsky.”

The suspicion surrounding Khelif’s gender comes from the fact that she and Lin Yu‑ting of Taiwan failed to meet gender eligibility at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi last year, resulting in their disqualifications.

International Boxing Association president Umar Kremlev said that their tests came back showing XY chromosomes. The IBA, however, is a controversial organization that has been banned from the Olympics since 2019.

“The IBA was stripped of its status as the global governing body for boxing by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because of its failure to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues.” [via Reuters]

If Khelif’s genetics do show that she has an XY chromosome, that is not automatically evidence of a transgender transition, but rather, the occurrence of a rare condition known as DSD — Differences of Sexual Development.

According to Reuters, DSDs are a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs” that can result in those with the condition being a “raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes, blood testosterone levels in the male range and the ability to use testosterone circulating within their bodies.”

“The IOC’s Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations, offers guidelines to federations on ensuring inclusion and fairness in sport, including athletes with Differences of Sexual Disorder (DSD).” [via Reuters]

The International Olympic Committee has since defended Khelif’s right to participate in women’s boxing at the Olympics.

“I would just say that everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules,” IOC spokesman Adams in a statement. “They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case.”

Khelif’s Algerian passport identifying her as a woman is key in all of this as the country’s strict and regressive laws surrounding sex and gender would not allow it to say so if it were not true.