- Claressa Shields suggested that all female boxers should be tested for testosterone levels in light of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting controversies
- “T-Rex” regrets calling both Olympic boxers “transgenders”
Claressa Shields wants the issue regarding true gender in women’s boxing to be addressed fairly and properly following the controversy surrounding Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting at the Paris Olympics.
‘T-Rex’ wants all women tested
Speaking to TMZ Sports, Shields weighed in on the outrage caused by controversial Olympic boxers Khelif and Yu-Ting. For “T-Rex,” this should serve as an eye-opener for the governing bodies of the Olympics and other professional boxing tournaments to ensure that every woman, regardless of their appearance, should be tested for testosterone levels.
“I stand with women should fight against women, men should fight against men, so I think that with this situation, it really needs to be evaluated the right way and I don’t want to put any put out more false information because if you’re born a woman like me, I was born a woman but we all know that my skills and my strength, everything, I worked on naturally,” Shields said.
“I’ve never had my level of testosterone tested, so I just feel like we have to be fair to the women boxers who are being called men because they’re not men and we also need to do a testosterone test of all the women and not just exclude two women because they have an appearance of men,” she added. “…I stand what I said, men fight against men women fight against women, transgenders fight against transgenders.”
Shields is sorry for her comments
Prior to calling for a mandatory testosterone level test, Shields referred to Khelif and Yu-Ting as “transgenders” in previous interview. Reports then later revealed that both were both women but happened to have high testosterone levels.
Well Aware of her mistake, “T-Rex” took to opportunity to express her regret for what she said.
““You can’t look at a woman and say ‘Oh, she doesn’t have a high level of testosterone,’ because it can come in all different forms. Your muscles, your face, just inside of you and you look like a petite, beautiful woman, but you have a high level of testosterone… I feel bad now because I did an interview with Fox News earlier where I literally called these two women, transgenders, which that’s what I was told. I wish I would’ve did my research before, because now I couldn’t imagine being at the Olympics, winning these fights, and now I’m seeing all these articles and I’m trending because a two-time Olympic champ just called me a transgender. I just feel really bad about that,” she confided.
Khelif was officially declared the winner after her opponent and Italy’s Angela Carini quit 46 seconds into the opening round. On the other hand, Yu-Ting advanced to the quarterfinals after beating Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova via decision.
Both boxers remain at the center of the ongoing controversy for their questionable gender and undisclosed eligibility test results.
Watch Shields full interview below:
1 thought on “Claressa Shields Says All Women Boxers Should Be Tested For Testosterone Level, ‘Feels Bad’ For Calling Imane Khelif And Lin Yu-Ting ‘Transgenders’”
The reason there is so much controversy regarding gender is because the IOC and other athletic organizations have not established a formal policy or eligability criteria.
Allow me to simplify this issue for you.
We are born with a certain Testosterone level, but there are means to increase Testosterone at will, through steroids. This is usually considered “doping” which is illegal in most sports. So anyone manipulating their Testosterone should be banned from competition with women.
Anyone who changes their gender should be banned from women’s sports. Not all sports, just women’s sports.
Why don’t we hear about transgender competitors competing in MEN’S sports? Because mostly, they can’t compete with men. That doesn’t mean that there are no transathletes or women who can beat men.
Competition requires even playing field, and that is why categories exist. Age and weight are such categories. The level playing field has upper and lower requirements to qualify for competition. It would be helpful to establish upper and lower levels of Testosterone as a qualifying measure.
We are all garuanteed certain rights, we are not garuanteed privileges.
All people have a right to participate in sports and competitions, but all people don’t have the privilege to compete in any sport or category of sport.
Transwomen are not women, that’s why there are two different words with different meanings attached.
Finally, I identify as a millionaire, and I want to be a millionaire but I am not a millionaire. I am transitioning to be a millionaire, and while I’m transitioning, I want everyone to treat me like a millionaire. Especially the banks, because they give preferential treatment to millionaires.
Now, do I have a right to demand that, or would it be a privilege to treated that way?