WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday again condemned two Olympic gold medalists, falsely calling the female boxers men.
Trump made the comments while speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and vowing to “keep men out of women’s sports,” turning his attention to the recently concluded Olympics and the case of two athletes who came under international scrutiny over misperceptions of their gender.
Trump has long criticized transgender people as part of his meetings and focused specifically on transgender people and uses language about gender identity that LGBTQ+ advocates say is wrong and harmful.
As for the two boxes, both Imane Khelif of Algeria and Li Yu-ting from Taiwan have faced misperceptions about their gender created by the fallout from the Olympics-banned International Boxing Association’s decision last year to disqualify both fighters from the world championships for allegedly failing an eligibility test.
Trump did not mention the athletes by name, but noted that “in the Olympics, the two had crossed paths.”
“They were men. They transitioned to women and they were into boxing,” Trump said.
Despite being born and raised as women, Khelif and Lin found themselves in the crosshairs of Western debates about gender, sex and sport after failing the unspecified and non-transparent eligibility tests for women’s competitions from the now-banned International Boxing Federation.
Trump and other prominent figures have complained about Khelif being allowed to run, and Trump has previously referred to Khelif as a man.
On Saturday, he did it again, describing both athletes competing in the Games as “crazy” and saying: “It’s so degrading to women.”