Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has asked the Olympics organisers to take back Imane Khelif's gold medal after leaked reports claimed that the boxer was a biological male. Khelif won the gold medal in the women's 66kg category at the Paris Olympics despite sparking a gender row. The latest report suggests that the Olympic champion may have a condition known as 5-alpha reductase deficiency.
According to reduxx.info, expert endocrinologists Soumaya Fedala and Jacques Young have prepared a report, that states that Khelif has 5-alpha reductase deficiency, a sexual development disorder found in biological males. In October, French journalist Djaffar Ait Aoudia gained a copy of the thorough physical examination conducted on the athlete.
After winning gold at Paris, Khelif had claimed that she has every right to fight and that she was a women. Speaking to Guardian she had said, "I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. [The detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks."
What is 5-Alpha Reductase Deficiency?
The people having this condition are born genetically male but have trouble producing a crucial hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This hormone is essential for the development of male sex characteristics, especially those visible on the outside of the body. Individuals with this condition are genetically male, having one X and one Y chromosome, as well as male reproductive organs called testes.
