Imane Khelif won the Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing in the 66-kilogram (145-pound) class on Friday, defeating China’s Yang Liu. The highlight of her performance was her standing on her coach’s shoulders with her arms raised in the air as the packed house at Roland Garros cheered her on.
Although Khelif’s story ended in triumph, her run at the Paris Olympics was marked by controversy both in and out of the ring – the controversy outside the ring centered around a dispute over her gender. The controversy was first sparked when Khelif’s former opponent, Italian boxer Angela Carini, stopped the fight 46 seconds into the match after the Algerian boxer took several punches to the face.
Subsequently, a social media post falsely claimed that Khelif was transgender and assigned male at birth. This led to an online furore and people debated whether or not Khelif should be allowed to box in the women’s category.
According to GLAAD and InterACT, Khelif is neither transgender nor does she identify as intersex. As the Associated Press reported, she was assigned female at birth. But the controversy sparked an uproar online.
Prominent influencers such as the controversial Logan Paul falsely claimed that Khelif was a man, writing on X/Twitter: “This is the purest form of evil unfolding right before our eyes. A man was allowed to beat up a woman on the world stage and destroy her lifelong dream while fighting for her late father. This delusion must end.”
Although Paul later retracted his statement, writing “OOPSIES” and admitting to spreading false information, other influential figures such as JK Rowling and Elon Musk were among the prominent names who condemned the Olympics for allowing Khelif to compete in the women’s boxing competition at the 2024 Games in Paris.
Khalif recently told SNTV, an Associated Press sports video partner, that her family was worried about her. “God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal and that would be the best response,” she said in an interview originally conducted in Arabic. “I am sending a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter and to refrain from bullying all athletes because that has an impact, a massive impact.”
According to NBC News, Khelif won by unanimous decision. A large Algerian crowd at Roland Garros cheered her on with chants of “Allez Imane” and “1, 2, 3 Algérie!”
“I am very happy, God made this possible, this is my dream!” said Khelif shortly after the fight. “I want to thank all the people here,” she said, pointing to the stands, “and the people of Algeria who came to support me, my coach and Team Algeria.”
The New York Times reported that all five judges had a score of 10-9 for Khelif in each round.
