On August 2, the media (1;2;3;4;5;6), Facebook users(1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9;10;11;12;13;14) and pages (1;2;3;4;5;6;7)
disseminated information claiming that a transgender female boxer confronted an Italian athlete at the Paris Olympics and won in 46 seconds. The authors assert that Algerian Imane Khelif is a transgender woman competing in women’s boxing.
The same information was also disseminated by Russian-speaking users on Threads (1;2), Facebook users (1;2), and the media (1;2;3;4).
The claim that a transgender boxer confronted an Italian athlete at the Paris Olympics is misleading. In reality, Imane Khelif is not a transgender woman; she is biologically female. Last year, she was disqualified by an organization later expelled from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for allegedly having XY chromosomes.
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Algerian Boxer Imane Khelif is not Transgender
Algerian Imane Khelif and Italian Angela Carini faced each other in the ring in Paris on August 1. After 46 seconds, the Italian athlete requested to stop the match, resulting in Khelif being declared the winner. Carini refused to shake hands, fell to her knees, and started crying. She later explained that she stopped the match due to pain caused by the blows she received. Photos of Carini quickly spread in the media and on social networks, claiming that the Algerian athlete is a transgender woman who had an advantage over her opponent and won in an unequal fight.
However, in reality, Imane Khelif is not a transgender woman; she is biologically female. She has always competed among women and there is no information indicating that she identifies as transgender or intersex. It is noteworthy that there are no transgender women participating in the 2024 Olympics.
Information confirming that Khelif is biologically female is validated by her passport. Additionally, the chief representative of the International Olympic Committee, Mark Adams, refuted claims about her being transgender, stating on July 30 that all participants in the women’s category in Paris comply with the Olympics’ rules, including medical regulations.
The Algerian Olympic Committee made a statement on July 31, before the match with the Italian boxer, condemning the “baseless” attacks on Imane Khelif:
“COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) responded to the spread of information against Khelif, calling the reports about the female athlete misleading and explaining that in 2023 they were victims of the “unexpected and arbitrary decision” of the IBA (International Boxing Association). This refers to the IBA’s decision to disqualify Khelif and a Taiwanese boxer.
“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.”
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What do we know about Khelif’s disqualification in 2023?
In 2023, boxer Khelif was disqualified at the Women’s World Championship held in New Delhi. The International Boxing Association (IBA) announced the decision a few hours before the gold medal match. The IBA’s head claimed to Russian state media TASS that the boxer failed to meet the criteria because she had XY chromosomes (unlike most women who have XX chromosomes). The Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting was disqualified for the same reason and lost the chance to fight for the bronze medal. Khelif responded to the IBA’s decision, saying to Algerian media that they did not want Algeria to win the gold medal and called the disqualification a conspiracy that they would not remain silent about.
The Olympic boxing matches in Paris are overseen by a special committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The International Boxing Association (IBA) was expelled from the IOC on July 24, 2024, at the 142nd session. However, the IOC had already suspended the association’s authority in 2019 due to controversial and questionable cases related to governance, finances, refereeing, and doping.
The IBA criticized the International Olympic Committee for allowing the Algerian and Taiwanese boxers to compete, claiming that the athletes were not tested for testosterone, though they underwent tests whose specifics remain confidential. The organization does not specify what tests the athletes underwent.
For the 2024 Olympics, Khelif’s profile initially indicated that she was disqualified last year due to “elevated testosterone levels,” but the information was later removed. Regarding testosterone testing, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said that testosterone testing is not perfect and not a panacea, adding that many women may have what is called “male levels” of testosterone but are women and compete as such.
There are questions about the IBA’s decisions and its connections to Russia. The IBA’s president, Russian Umar Kremlev, made Gazprom the main sponsor and moved many of the IBA’s operations to Russia. The International Boxing Association lost dozens of members who formed a new organization called World Boxing, hoping to be recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the governing body for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Last year, the IBA’s decision to allow Russian fighters to compete under the Russian flag in 2023 was controversial. Notably, the decision to disqualify Khelif was made after she defeated Russian boxer Azalia Amineva.
Imane Khelif’s Career
Imane Khelif debuted in 2018 at the age of 19. However, she is not considered an unbeatable leader among female boxers and has been defeated by female athletes in the past. She ranked 17th at the 2018 World Championships and 19th at the 2019 Women’s World Boxing Championships. At the 2020 Olympics, she reached the quarterfinals, where she lost to Irish Kelly Harrington. In 2022, Khelif won second place at the Women’s World Championships after losing to Amy Broadhurst. She also won gold medals at the 2022 African Championships, Mediterranean Games, and the 2023 Arab Games.
Irish athlete Amy Broadhurst, who defeated the Algerian boxer in 2022, responded on X to the claims about Khelif:
“Have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif. Personally I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’. I thinks it’s the way she was born & that’s out of her control. The fact that she has been beating by 9 females before says it all.”
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