Getty Imane Khelif.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif made a four-word statement amid gender controversy at the Paris Olympics, telling reporters, “I am a woman,” according to the New York Post.
Khelif’s comments came after a victory against Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori, which guaranteed Khelif at least a bronze medal in competition at the 2024 Olympics, the New York Post reported.
“Let’s be very clear here: We are talking about women’s boxing,” International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach said on August 3, according to Fox News. “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised a woman, who have a passport as a woman, and who have competed for many years as women. And this is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.”
Controversy has swirled around Khelif since Italian boxer Angela Carini quit a bout with Khelif 46 seconds into the match and after taking a hard punch to the face.
Imane Khelif Has Called for an End to Bullying
GettyImane Khelif at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Khelif spoke out against bullying in sports to SNTV, the Associated Press reported. The AP translated Khelif’s comments, which were in Arabic.
“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects,” Khelif said, according to the AP. “It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit, and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”
Khelif also told SNTV about the effects of the criticism.
“I am in contact with my family two days a week. I hope that they weren’t affected deeply,” Khelif said, the AP reported. “They are worried about me. God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal, and that would be the best response.”
Imane Khelif Has Declined to Comment on the Nature of Testing
GettyImane Khelif.
According to the AP, “Khelif declined to answer when asked whether she had undergone tests other than doping tests, saying she didn’t want to talk about it.”
International Boxing Association president Umar Kremlev told Russian news agency TASS that Khelif and another boxer had “XY chromosomes,” the typical genetic makeup of males, and that is why they were disqualified from the World Championships in 2023, Reuters reported.
But the Russian-led IBA is itself controversial and was removed from Olympic competition oversight because of “governance, finance, and ethical issues,” Reuters reported.
The Olympics abandoned compulsory gender testing in 1999, according to a 2008 article from the Journal of The Royal Society of Medicine, “Intersex and the Olympic Games.”
The International Olympic Committee has criticized the IBA. “These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process,” according to the IOC, referring to Khelif and another boxer.
“This is not a transgender case, this is about a woman taking part in a women’s competition, and I think I have explained this many times,’” the IOC wrote on X.
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Algerian Boxer Imane Khelif Makes 4-Word Statement Amid Gender Controversy: Report