Polish Olympian defends Mexican rival after politicians suggest she is male

A Polish athlete has condemned hate speech towards the Mexican opponent she lost to in a judo bout at the Paris Olympics after some conservative figures in Poland suggested that the Pole’s rival is, in fact, a man.

Among those to make such insinuations about Prisca Awiti Alcaraz were a constitutional court judge and a former government minister, who is now an opposition MP.

In response, Polish athlete Angelika Szymańska wrote on social media that she “does not condone or support any form of hate” towards her opponent, adding that “all accusations or insinuations in her case are misplaced”.

The Polish media had tipped Szymańska, who in May won silver at the World Judo Championships, as a candidate for a medal in Paris. However, on Tuesday she lost in the second round to Awiti Alcaraz.

After the match, Szymańska’s coach admitted that the Mexican – who went on to reach the final and claim silver – was “the better athlete on the day.”

Some Polish politicians and commentators, however, took to social media to defend the Pole, insinuating that she lost because she was competing against a man posing as a woman. They published photos of the Mexican athlete as alleged evidence.

“Here is the ‘sportswoman’ who beat the Polish representative in judo today – and went on to win an Olympic medal,” wrote Paweł Jabłoński, an MP for the national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party who served as deputy foreign minister from 2019 to 2023.

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“TV commentators did not dare to say a single word of criticism – I guess they are afraid they will suffer the consequences like Przemysław Babiarz,” he added, referring to the case of a recently suspended Olympic commentator.

Krystyna Pawłowicz, a constitutional court judge and former PiS MP, also published a photo of Awiti Alcaraz alongside one of Algerian women’s boxer Imane Khelif (who was disqualified from last year’s world championships after failing an unspecified eligibility test).

“The person on the left beat a Polish woman in judo; the person on the right, an Algerian man identifying as a woman, threatens more women in women’s boxing,” wrote Pawłowicz. “If it goes on like this, it means that the organisers want the finals of women’s disciplines to be won by people who feel like women.”

In 2021, Pawłowicz was widely criticised for publishing the personal details of a 10-year-old transgender girl when criticising her school for instructing teachers to refer to her by her female name.

However, Szymańska called on people to stop making such accusations against Awiti Alcaraz. “While I understand that some of the messages were intended to comfort me and lift my spirits, I do not condone or support any form of hate toward my opponent,” she wrote on Facebook.

“In her case, all accusations and insinuations are misplaced. We have known each other for years, we train at international camps together and I know that Prisca is a hardworking and determined woman who fully deserved her success yesterday,” she added.

Szymańska also said she completely agreed with comments by Tomasz Terlikowski, a prominent Catholic commentator, who had criticised Jabłoński and others who were making insinuations about Awiti Alcaraz.

“I don’t know if it’s stupidity, an internet-related lack of boundaries or maybe just plain human hatred, but I do know one thing: what’s going on around Mexican judoka Prisca Awiti Alcaraz winning the silver medal is just plain embarrassing,” Terlikowski wrote on Facebook.

Main image credit: Comisión Nacional de Cultura Física y Deporte / Instagram

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.