There has been a lot of hue and cry ever since Italian Boxer Angela Carini abandoned her match against her Algerian opponent Imane Khelif. There have been accusations of her being trans, with a whole host of celebs including JK Rowling, Logan Paul and Elon Musk along with the overall media industry running with the story fanning the flames.
Is all that true though? Is Imane Khelif a trans athlete? The answer to that is relatively simple. She isn’t.
Imane Khelif hails from a rural village in Tiaret province, Northwestern Algeria. She used to play football as a child but later switched to boxing for which she went to another village to train. It is noted that her father, being a relatively traditional man, initially objected to her interest in boxing because he did not approve of girls taking part in the sport.
In a career that has been ongoing since 2018, it is curious to note that Imane’s gender was not called into question during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she also participated. Imane Khelif is unfortunately not the only one being targeted by this disinformation campaign, as Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting was also targeted similarly.
Initially, the only two major international federations who came out to defend Imane Khelif were the Algerian Olympic Committee and the Palestine Olympic Committee.
A statement by the COA (Comité Olympique et Sportif Algérien) read “COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets. Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics. The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion.”
A statement by the Palestinian Olympic Committee read “The Palestinian Olympic Committee stands united with the Algerian Olympic Committee in her support for Eman Khlaif and celebrates her contributions to the sport and her exemplary representation of women in boxing”
The International Olympic Committee has also put out a statement quashing any disinformation regarding the matter.
The statement reads, “We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments”.
“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years,” it said further.
It is pertinent to note that the IOC also cast further doubt on the integrity of the already corruption-laden IBA (Boxing as a whole was in danger of being removed from the Olympics) by mentioning in the statement that the decision regarding Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting was taken by the IBA Secretary General and CEO on his own, while IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations.
This can be confirmed by the IBA minutes which also mention that the IBA should “establish a clear procedure on gender testing”.
At times like these, one thing is paramount. Always do your research. The full IOC statement along with the IBA minutes can be found here.
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