“Pretending to be a woman in such a feminine sport”; “these games are so pathetic that words fail me” – write outraged Internet users in response to a post suggesting that a man competed in women's artistic gymnastics in Paris. They were misled because the film does not come from the games. And the outrage is fueled by the hate that transgender people face during the games. However, Cristofer Benítez is not one of them.
At the Olympic Games in Paris, one of the topics eagerly taken up by public opinion and in online discussions – including by Polish politicians – is the transgender status of some female competitors and whether they should be allowed to compete with women. The most high-profile case was that of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif after her opponent, Italian Angela Carini, withdrew after 46 seconds and did not thank her opponent for the fight. The 25-year-old Khelif has been controversial, because for example, during last year's world championships in New Delhi, she was suspended a few hours before the final fight because she failed a testosterone level test. However, the Italian's behavior in Paris caused a huge wave of hate towards the competitor in Algeria and comments that she is a man. The IOC came to the Algerian woman's defense. “The Algerian boxer was born a woman, was registered as a woman, lived as a woman, boxed as a woman and has a female passport,” it said on August 3. IOC Spokesperson Mark Adams.
But often the comments about transgender athletes are unfounded and concern those athletes who simply turned out to be better. In Poland, such accusations were made against opponents our judoka Angelika Szymańska – after Prisca Awiti Alcaraz from Mexico defeated the Pole, depriving her of her chances for an Olympic medal. After the fight, opposition politicians – including envoy Law and Justice Paweł Jabłoński – Awiti suspected Alcaraz, that she is a man and should not compete with women. It got to the point that she Szymanska reacted and stood in defense of the Mexican woman. “I do not accept or support any form of hate that is directed at my opponent. In her case, all accusations and insinuations are misplaced,” she stated on Facebook.
Internet users: “this is a guy who pretends to be a woman”, “guys turn into women to win”
So now, photos are being circulated online, in which female athletes are being edited to have male features; from homophobic comments about the women competing. It was in this atmosphere that a post published on July 31 by an anonymous internet user gained popularity, with a video of a man dressed in a flesh-colored gymnastics leotard decorated with rhinestones. “This is a guy who pretends to be a woman because he doesn't have the balls to compete with men and I don't invite you to discuss it because these are the facts” – she stated (all posts have original spelling).
The minute-long video features a gymnast confidently stepping onto the stage and beginning a solo performance of rhythmic gymnastics. Music and a voiceover (in French) play in the background, while French subtitles appear at the bottom of the screen. The Tik Tok platform logo and the username @elia.covii are visible in the lower left corner, suggesting that this account is the source of the recording. The post generated over 320,000 views, 2,000 likes, and was retweeted over 300 times in three days.
Misleading post published on July 31 on Xx.com
Many internet users – in view of what has been appearing on the web recently – understood that a man took part in the games in Paris and competed with women. They did not spare critical comments: “This Olympics is one big embarrassment…”; “Another female athlete? These games are some kind of farce. And France has specialized in falls for some time”; “Fuck… Nothing here fits, maybe they should organize an Olympics for perverts and that's it…”; “But why women who consider themselves men don't compete with them at the Olympics is interesting”; “These games are so pathetic that words fail them. Men turn into women to win”; “Pretending to be a woman in such a feminine sport. What incredible courage” – they commented (censored profanity by the editors).
“They made a men's section, is he competing in the women's section?”; “Why is he pretending? He looks exactly like a man,” some people asked.
Others warned: “Fake”; “But this is a recording from 2022 from the men's artistic gymnastics competition Euskalgym 2022, Christopher Benitez is qualified for the competition as a man, as the video you provide yourself says…”; “This is a video from the men's competition, not the women's, but a prejudiced woman did not check it, she just posts it and spreads hate.”
We checked where the recording comes from, and it was actually used to manipulate and incite hate online.
“The audience was surprised when they saw Cristofer performing in a shiny outfit”
First, an explanation: There is no men's artistic gymnastics at this year's Paris Games. Only women compete in the discipline – individually and as a team – which can be checked on page events. Artistic gymnastics consists of performing dance-gymnastic-acrobatic routines to music. Competitors perform them using a ball, ribbon, hoop, skipping rope or clubs.
However, outside Poland, artistic gymnastics is known as rhythmic gymnastics. In other countries, artistic gymnastics is understood as sports gymnastics, in which short exercise routines are presented on a board or using equipment (bar, rings, balance beam). In the latter discipline, both women and men.
The video from the above post actually has nothing to do with the Olympics. The same material published on Tik Tok more than a month before the event in Paris: June 21, 2024.
The narrator in the recording does not confirm that the man is competing with women. Here is a translation of his words: “Everyone was laughing at this man because he was playing a sport designed for women, and what the audience did to him after his performance was shameful. Cristofer Benítez is an athlete who stands out in the discipline of artistic gymnastics – a sport traditionally associated with women. Artistic gymnastics combines elements of gymnastic dance with the manipulation of objects such as ribbon and hoop. Bénitez wants to help break down gender stereotypes and promote acceptance and appreciation of men's artistic gymnastics. The audience was surprised when they saw Christopher performing in a shiny outfit – a large part of the audience booed and hurled insults at him at the end of the performance. Some on social media suggested physically attacking him. After his performance was posted online, he was met with a wave of hate, accused of bringing shame to the sport and his country. What do you think about it?”
The man in the video is Spanish gymnast Cristofer Benítez. He has been competing in men's artistic gymnastics in Spain for a long time. The video shows his performance during the Euskalgym 2022 competition in Spain. Benítez was competing then, of course with mennot with women.
Spanish gymnast Cristofer Benítez's performance in 2022 youtube.com/@aliciamino7295
You can watch a recording of it on YouTube the whole performance. The material was published on November 9, 2022. The performances of 12 other competitors in artistic gymnastics are also available on YouTube.
Cristofer Benítez: Maybe in 10 or 12 years it will be an Olympic discipline
Cristofer Benítez comes from Tenerife and has been promoting the development of men's artistic gymnastics for years. He postulates that men should be able to compete in this discipline at the Olympic Games. “I don't think we'll make it to Paris in 2024. I think it could happen in 10 or 12 years, but it will be difficult” – he spoke in 2021, the editorial office of the Spanish portal El Diario. He said that he had been doing gymnastics for over 15 years, he started as a boy and it was not easy. He considered giving up. “We had a very bad time. We entered a world where it was unthinkable that there would be men in this discipline,” he said. He claimed that he was harassed by female coaches and insulted in the hallways in high school.
The Spanish gymnast was already in the news in 2021, when one of his public performances she criticized Russian figure skater Tatiana Navka, a two-time world champion and 2006 Olympic champion in ice dancing. After declaring that “gymnastics is a women's sport” and “my children will never see it,” a video of Benítez's performance went viral, and the gymnast received a lot of support.
Men's artistic gymnastics is developing mainly in Spain and France. There, men are allowed to compete in competitions where they perform routines similar to those performed by women (source: TVP Sport). In Japan, a slightly different form of men's artistic gymnastics is popular. It is “a display of muscles and speed, as well as acrobatics,” she explained in 2021. Associated Press (AP).