Caitlin Clark She was named AP Female Athlete of the Year without much competition, but one person receiving votes was the cause of a lot of controversy over the summer.
A group of 74 AP sports journalists and its members voted for the award. Clark received 35 votes as an Olympic gymnast Simone Biles He came in second place with 25.
But Olympic gold medal-winning boxer Iman Khalif came in third place, receiving four votes.
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Iman Khelif of Team Algeria celebrates a win over Anna-Luca Hamori of Team Hungary after their women's 66 kg quarterfinal match on day eight of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at North Paris Arena on August 3, 2024 in Paris, France. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Khalifa qualified for the Paris Olympics, but Khalifa's gender came into question after he was disqualified from the 2023 tournament before the gold medal match due to gender eligibility issues.
IBA President Umar Kremlev He said that the boxer has XY chromosomes, Which is associated with biological males.
Boxer Angela Carini lost her match against Khalif in Paris, saying, “One punch hurts me a lot.”
Khalif won gold in Paris and was not the only women's gold medalist to be disqualified for failing gender eligibility tests. Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting also won the gold medal in another women's weight category in Paris, sparking similar outrage.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) defended Khalif and Yu Ting's inclusion in the women's events to the end.
Iman Khalif of Algeria, left, competes with Liu Yang of China in the women's gold medal match at the Paris 2024 Games. (Sebastian Kahnert/Image Alliance via Getty Images)
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“These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the International Boxing Federation. Towards the end of the AIBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any proper legal process,” the IOC said during the Games.
Khalif later won the gold medal. Khalif did not lose a single round on any scoreboard in Paris.
After Carini won her eighth Italian women's title earlier this month, she claimed the win was her “revenge”.
Gold medalist Iman Khelif of Algeria stands on the podium during the medal ceremony for the women's 66 kg final boxing category during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on August 9, 2024. (Mohamed Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images)
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Khalif was the most searched-for athlete on Google this year, partly due to the controversy surrounding him.
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