Sauce Gardner, Dez Bryant weigh in on Imane Khelif’s Olympic gender controversy

Olympic boxer Imane Khelif finds herself in the eye of a storm and NFL players past and present, including Sauce Gardner and Dez Bryant, weighed in on the matter. The Algerian boxer saw her opponent, Angela Carini, withdraw from their bout after the force she felt during the 46 seconds they sparred.

Khelif had been barred by the International Boxing Association (IBA) from last year's World Championships due to failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests. However, the IBA has been stripped of its status, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) citing a lack of transparency. That means instead of the updated rules, eligibility for boxers is based on previous rules dating back to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

That has allowed Imane Khelif to participate but not many people are happy about it. Dez Bryant posted on X, formerly known as Twitter:

"God made you a woman for a reason... God made you a man for a reason... God didn’t put you in a foreign body... Also... Men shouldn’t be able to compete in women divisions... My opinion"

Sauce Gardner also chimed in with a GIF vehemently nodding no to whether biologically born men should be allowed to compete against women.

It must be noted that in the case of Imane Khelif, she is not accused of changing her gender identity or previously being a male who has transitioned. Her issue is that despite being born a female, she has elevated levels of testosterone and failed gender eligibility tests.

Such issues have previously plagued athletes like Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand, who were also born female.

Pat McAfee takes a more nuanced stance on Imane Khelif than Dez Bryant and Sauce Gardner

Pat McAfee also chimed in on the topic and said that they needed to discuss the issue and hoped somebody smarter than them could figure it out.

Other players have also weighed in on the issue and IOC's current stance seems to have stirred up a hornet's nest.