Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who is alleged to have male chromosomes, has called for people to “refrain from bullying” after controversy erupted around gender at the Olympics.
In a video released through the Associated Press, Khelif said that bullying can “destroy people.”
“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 massive effects,” Khelif said in Arabic. 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.”
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif called for an end to bullying athletes after she faced a wave of online abuse over misconceptions about her gender during the Paris Olympics. pic.twitter.com/Pl1sc5j181
— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) August 5, 2024
As Breitbart News reported, Khelif became a lightning rod for controversy after defeating Italian fighter Angela Carini in only 46 seconds. Prior to the Olympics, Khelif failed the International Boxing Association’s gender eligibility tests gender tests alongside Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting.
In 2023, the International Boxing Association (IBA) President Umar Kremlev explained his organization’s decision to disqualify Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting and Algeria’s Imane Khelif from competing in the IBA’s 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championships, according to Russia’s Tass News 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,” Kremlev said.
Immediately after defeating Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, Khelif made only that brief comment in preparation for moving into the semifinals, according to the New York Post.
Khelif has secured at least a bronze medal in the Olympics and will be on the path to gold if victorious against Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand on Tuesday.
“Yes, this issue involves the dignity and honor of every woman and female,” Khelif told an Algerian broadcaster on Sunday. “The Arab population has known me for years and has seen me box in the IBA that wronged me (and) treated me unfairly, but I have God on my side.”
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