What is the truth of the news about the Zambian women's team being disqualified from the Olympics because of the gender of one of its players?
Circulating on social media is the following news: "Officially: The Zambian women's team has been disqualified from the Olympics after proving the presence of testicles in one of the team's players."
The Truth
The circulating news is fake. There is no truth to the disqualification of the Zambian women's football team from the Paris Olympics due to one of the team members having "testicles". The Zambian women's team played against Australia just hours ago on the evening of Sunday, July 28, 2024, and the match ended recently with a 5-6 loss.
Previously, they lost 3-0 to the United States women's team on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in the first match of Group B in the women's football competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Zambian women's team is scheduled to face Germany next Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
Additionally, the attached news is being circulated mockingly on social media, and no global media outlet has reported similar news confirming the claim of one of the Zambian team members having "testicles" and a deduction of 6 points from their record.
This is the second participation of the Zambian team in the Olympic women's football tournament, after their first appearance in Tokyo 2020. They qualified for Paris after outperforming Morocco, successfully overturning a 2-1 first-leg defeat at home to a 3-2 aggregate victory over the Atlas Lionesses.
The draw placed the Zambian team in an extremely tough group, which includes four-time Olympic champions the United States, Australia, who reached the semi-finals in the FIFA Women's World Cup last year, and Germany, who won the gold medal in Rio 2016.