Pregnant Laura Woods reveals she was sent death threats after wading into Imane Khelif Olympic boxing gender row

Many, then, think boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting will waddle their way to podium glory next week.

But how deeply sad that a global event with so, so many stories — ones of triumph, adversity, heartbreak and sheer, hard work against all odds — should focus on the back stories of these two individuals.

Everyone has their opinion. And everyone is entitled to their opinion.

But those with the loudest, people such as JK Rowling — who should really get back to Privet Drive and lay off some of the militant anti-trans stuff — need to be careful.

When the author labelled the athletes “male”, she knew what she was doing: Stirring up her cauldron of hatred and winding up the ill-informed masses.

It was deeply irresponsible.

Because in Algeria, where Khelif is from, it is illegal to be gay, let alone trans, which, let’s face it, is what the boxer stands accused of being.

In effect, she has become the world’s first fictional trans Olympian.

But she isn’t transgender. And never has been.

Because, as is the case so regularly these days, mis-information, conspiracy and gross exaggeration are rife.

And how tragically horrific if those vociferous individuals claiming to be standing up for women should see two women subsequently killed by hate mobs.

Where was JK’s outrage over the convicted Dutch male rapist Steven van de Velde being allowed to compete in the beach volleyball?

Or where, if she’s so concerned about advantageous hormones, was her anger over China’s gold medal-winning 4x100m medley team, which featured two swimmers who previously returned positive doping tests?

Yesterday, the Algerian athlete tore into the scrutiny of her gender as “harmful to human dignity”, begging people to “refrain from bullying”.

And then the International Boxing Association, the body which originally claimed the pair had failed “eligibility tests” without even categorically explaining what these tests are, openly bullied her.

The IBA, which has been banned from regulating Olympic boxing because of governance problems, a lack of financial transparency and many perceived instances of corruption, let its clearly mad Russian chief Umar Kremlev do the talking.

Kremlev ranted, sensitively: “The tests show they were men. We don’t verify what they have between their legs. We don’t know if they were born like that or if some changes were made.”

Very unhelpfully, the boxers themselves and their governing bodies are also refusing to say exactly what tests they had done. And in this, some blame lies with them.

Do the pair have conditions such as Swyer Syndrome which means they have female reproductive organs but higher levels of testosterone? Are they intersex? How raised is their testosterone?

Of course, they shouldn’t have to drop their shorts and show the world their genitalia.

But they must display more transparency.

The IOC’s ham-fisted handling of testing procedures also needs addressing.

And if these women really do have a grossly unfair advantage, then this must be dealt with — and yes, perhaps they should be competing against men, albeit in a lighter weight category.

After all, the hurt feelings of these athletes mustn’t triumph over common sense and the well-being of their XX-chromosomed counterparts.

Safety must come first, for everyone.

And that means no more rumour, no more conspiracy theories and no more wild conjecture. Just facts.