Kaitlin Clark was named the AP Female Athlete of the Year without much competition, but one person who received the vote was the source of much controversy over the summer.
A panel of 74 sports journalists from The Associated Press and its members voted for this award. Clark received 35 votes, an Olympic gymnast Simone Biles he was second with 25.
But Olympic gold medalist boxer Imane Khelif was third, receiving four votes.
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Team Algeria's Imane Khelif celebrates victory against Team Hungary's Anna Luca Hamori after the Women's 66kg Women's 66kg Quarter Final match on the eighth day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the North Paris Arena on Aug. 3, 2024 Paris, France. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Khelif qualified for the Paris Olympics, but Khelif's gender was questioned after he was disqualified from the 2023 competition before the gold medal fight over gender eligibility issues.
IBA President Umar Kremlev said the boxer has “XY chromosomes,” related to natural males.
Another boxer, Angela Carini, lost her match against Khelif Paris, saying “one punch hurt a lot.”
Khelif won gold in Paris and was not the only female gold-winning boxer to be disqualified for failed gender eligibility tests. Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting also won gold in another women's weight class in Paris, sparking similar outrage.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) defended the inclusion of Khelif and Yu-ting in the women's events until the end.
Algeria's Imane Khelif, left, fights China's Liu Yang in the women's gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Games. (Sebastian Kahnert / image partnership via Getty Images)
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“These two athletes were victims of a sudden and unreasonable decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Games in 2023, they were suddenly removed without any due process,” The IOC said during the games.
Khelif later won the gold. Khelif did not lose a single round on the Paris scoreboards.
After Carini won her eighth Italian women's title earlier this month, she said the victory was her “revenge”.
Gold medalist Imane Khelif of Algeria stands on the podium during the medal ceremony for the women's 66kg boxing final during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on August 9, 2024. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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Khelif was Google's favorite athlete of the year, mostly because of the controversy.
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