On Thursday 1st August, the world watched as Italy’s Angela Carini withdrew just 46 seconds into her Olympic boxing match against Algeria’s Imane Khelif. Facing the glare of the reporters in the post-match press conference, an inconsolable Carini stated that she’d “never been hit so hard”.

Her tear-filled eyes, however, told a story that many women of colour anticipated long before she opened her mouth, a story of unchallenged victimhood. The clear and unquestionable delineation between good (Carini) and evil (Khelif).

This moment was the catalyst to a global debate around Imane’s gender identity, reminiscent of similar discussions faced by Caster Semenya, Serena Williams and Annet Negesa, bringing to light the ever shifting and increasingly constricting boundaries of womanhood, particularly in sports. 

Watching the ensuing media storm as a black woman who took part in competitive sports from childhood unearthed a well of repressed feelings about body image, performances of gender, and otherness that I had conveniently avoided unpacking.