Imani Khelif is an amateur boxer with a silver medal from the 2022 World Championships. Her journey to becoming a successful boxer began in her rural hometown of Tiaret, Algeria, where she faced initial disapproval from her father, but has since become a role model as a UNICEF ambassador.
She started training for boxing sessions by selling scrap metal for recycling. At just 19 years old, Khelif made her international debut in amateur boxing, finishing 17th at the 2018 World Championships, organized by the International Boxing Association (IBA), formerly known as AIBA.
In 2022, Khelif secured a silver medal at the Women’s World Boxing Championships after a tough loss to Amy Broadhurst, but bounced back with gold medal wins at the African Championships, Mediterranean Games, and at the 2023 Arab Games
But in 2023, there was a controversy.
A gender eligibility issue led to Imani Khelif’s disqualification from the 2023 championships, just before her gold medal bout. IBA President Umar Kremlev stopped clarification on the matter in a statement to Russia’s TASS Agency.
“Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women. According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were excluded from competition,” the statement said.
Khelif’s disqualification was first attributed to ‘medical reasons’ by the Algerian Olympic Committee, but subsequent reports by the media revealed that high testosterone levels were the underlying reason. She qualified for the Paris Olympics, and the controversy about the boxer’s gender was renewed.
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On Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, Khelif defeated Italian boxer Angela Carini in a fight that lasted just 46 seconds. Usually, a win as decisive as Imane Khelif’s would be marked by cheers, applause, and a hug from the vanquished opponent, but this was different.
But she is not alone, Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei was previously disqualified from last year’s World Championships for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
A number of high-profile figures, such as former US President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, WWE”s Logan Paul, J.K. Rowling, and UN officials, have weighed in on the issue, with some describing the situation as an example of ‘male abuse of a female’.
“Imane Khelif is NOT a biological woman – watching her beat her female opponent in the boxing ring was a sickening sight,” Pierce Morgan, an English broadcaster said.
However, in a joint press conference held by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Paris 2024 officials on Friday (2 August), officials defended its decision to allow the two boxers to continue to compete in the Paris Olympic amid the gender test controversy.
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said Khelif was “born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport.”
“This is not a transgender case,” Adams added.
Algerian officials and sympathizers have stood behind Khelif amidst the harassment online.
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The controversy surrounding the fight has sparked a heated and often misinformed discussion about gender and competition in sports, with many commentators weighing in. Unfortunately, this has also led to a wave of online harassment, including transphobic slurs and inaccurate claims that Khelif has an unfair physical advantage due to being wrongly labeled as ‘a man’.
On Friday, Angela Carini of Italy unexpectedly apologized for her treatment of Khelif after quitting their bout.“I’m sorry for my opponent.. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.
Imani Khelif’s only media comment was a brief statement to BBC Sport saying
“I’m here for the gold — I fight everybody.”
She’s scheduled to face Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the quarterfinals on Saturday, despite the Hungarian Boxing Association’s objections and letters of protest to the IOC and Hungary’s Olympic committee.