La Voz de Galicia – August 9, 2024 →
Sometimes, when I’m not sure whether I want to write about one of the topics I’ve been gathering, I call my sisters to ask for their opinions on the matter, since each of them has a different perspective, and most of the time we don’t agree on anything. I then explain the reasons why I want to write about it, listen to their reflections, and in the process, decide whether or not I’ll be able to address the topic from a viewpoint that might offer me a different reflection than the one I had before starting to write.
This week, after going through that process, and as a learning exercise, I decided that I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to say about the controversy surrounding the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. It’s difficult not to question everything that’s being said about the capabilities of a woman who reached the Olympics on her own merits as an athlete. And it’s even more difficult to imagine what’s going through the mind of a 25-year-old who, while competing at the highest level, finds the strength to give an interview and say, “I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles (…) to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects.”
And perhaps that’s what I wanted to say today, that Khelif, in the midst of a controversy that has nothing to do with her skills as a boxer, suffering all kinds of insults, was able to remind us that this kind of intimidation “can destroy people,” and to make a call for people to “refrain from bullying.” She reminded us that bullying is so widespread that in order to stop doing it, we have to abstain.
