WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday again criticized two Olympic gold medalists, wrongly calling the female boxers men.
Trump made the comments at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, pledging to “keep men out of women’s sports.” He turned his attention to the recently concluded Olympic Games and the case of two athletes who have become the subject of international criticism for misconceptions about their gender.
Trump has long criticized transgender people as part of his rallies and specifically targeting transgender athletes, using language about gender identity that LGBTQ+ activists find incorrect and harmful.
In the case of the two boxers, both Imane Khelif of Algeria and Li Yu-ting from Taiwan have faced misunderstandings over their gender, which arose in the aftermath of the International Boxing Association’s decision last year to disqualify both fighters from the world championships for failing an entry test.
Trump did not name the athletes, but noted that “during the Olympics there were two in transition.”
“They were men. They moved on to women and they were in boxing,” Trump said.
Despite being born and raised as women, Khelif and Lin found themselves in the spotlight of Western debates about gender, sex and sport after they failed unspecified and opaque entry tests for the women’s competition of the now-banned sport. International Boxing Federation.
Trump and other prominent figures have complained about Khelif being allowed to run. Trump has previously called Khelif a man.
On Saturday he did so again, describing both athletes competing in the Games as “crazy” and saying: “It’s so degrading for women.”