During this week’s match against the Australian Olympic women’s squad, two Zambian football players who were disqualified from a competition in 2022 due to excessively high testosterone levels scored five goals in a span of 56 minutes. It has generated a fresh escalation of the controversy over athletes with different sexual development competing in the female category at the Paris Games. An Australian television presenter labeled the players’ participation in the Olympics as “the elephant in the room.” This has caused the controversy to escalate even further.
Barbra Banda scored a triple trick for Zambia in an incredible game that took place on Sunday night in Marseille. Zambia added two more goals, but the Matildas of Australia ultimately defeated them by a score of 6-5. There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the pair’s participation in the Olympics due to the fact that they were both left off of their national squad for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in 2022 before they were able to undergo sex tests.
At the time, Andrew Kamanga, the head of the Zambian federation, told the BBC that Banda’s position “did not meet the criteria set by the CAF (Confederation of African Football),” which is a requirement for all players. In the previous year, it was proven by Telegraph Sport that Banda had never been subjected to a test and that she had been pulled from the competition in advance.
Zambia stated that they were aware that Banda’s testosterone levels were above the maximum allowable levels set by the CAF and that a course of hormone suppression had been administered to the striker. This occurred after Banda became the joint second-highest scorer at the Tokyo Olympics with six goals. However, the Football Association of Zambia reports that Banda, along with two other players, Kundananji and Racheal Nachula, who are also in the starting XI for the match against Australia, have declined to take suppressants out of concern for the potential adverse consequences that they may have.
The International Olympic Committee and FIFA have established rules that are significantly more permissive, so national federations are in charge of the subject of sex testing. However, the testosterone levels of these players were high enough to prevent them from competing in the African Cup of Nations. Zambia was therefore free to call up Banda, Kundananji, and Nachula for the World Cup that took place in Australia and New Zealand the previous year, as well as for the Games that would take place in Paris this summer.
Lucy Zelic, an Australian presenter, made the following statement in response to the Matildas’ Olympic campaign: “Are we ready to tackle the elephant in the room? The right to ask inquiries is ours to exercise. When it comes to gender testing, the fact that the International Olympic Committee does not have rules that are “as strict” as other organizations is a slur on the legitimacy of the organization.