Sabo strikes ... the Olympic Games

It's not that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif doesn't look like a woman — this is the Olympics, not a beauty contest.

It's that Khelif doesn't punch like a woman, either — at least judging by Italian boxer Angela Carini's reaction after Khelif hit her in the face with a punishing straight right. Just 46 seconds into the bout, Carini gave up.

Carini was in severe pain, but she wasn't injured. This was a pre-emptive decision for her own safety. Khelif hit with a power that Carini had never faced from any other female opponent in her boxing career.

Now, maybe Khelif is simply that talented and Carini just a sore loser who met her match.

But the news that Khelif had previously been disqualified from last year's world championships after unspecified sex testing by a different regulatory authority, the International Boxing Association, certainly raises suspicions — suspicions that won't be allayed any time soon. The IBA isn't allowed to reveal the tests it based the disqualification on. And the media instantly paints any attempts to pursue the issue as ideologically motivated — a "transvestigation," if you will.

Making this a "trans" issue is disingenuous; ironically, activists refuse to admit that Khelif could be one of those rare cases in which sex really is on a spectrum: those classified as intersex or as having differences in sex development. In these cases, even a person with XX chromosomes could have significantly more testosterone than other women, providing a distinct physical advantage.

Carini and other female athletes like her deserve clarity on this issue.

In the meantime, the spectacle of Carini's despair in defeat remains haunting. It's the despair of someone denied the chance to prove herself in fair competition.

It's this image that dissident artist Sabo highlights in his latest work, seen above. A biting commentary on what gender ideology has done to girls' and women's sports.

Meanwhile, having already clinched a bronze medal, Khelif continues to tear through the competition. Khelif will face Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng late this afternoon in the semifinals.