I do not buy that Imane Khelif ever thought he was a girl. If he has 5α-reductase 2 deficiency rather than just being an outright troon cheat, he would have been born with underdeveloped external male genitalia rather than female-appearing genitalia. Sure, his parents may have thought "WTF is this and what should we do?" but it's completely ludicrous to suggest that he made it through childhood as a non-remarkable female child and had no idea whatsoever that he was actually a boy until he failed to start menarche.
No, that is not how this syndrome works, and we actually have historical examples of it being used to insert male athletes into the female category, most notably in the case of
Henrich "Dora" Ratjen in the 1936 Olympics.
The article explores "Dora's" early life and describes the circumstances around his birth. What did early 20th century "simple folks" see when this baby was delivered?
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So... immediately identifiable as "non-typical".
The article continues:
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