Imane Khelif was criticized for having a “male body, female papers” for knocking out her opponent in just 46 seconds at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, she was born female and has competed professionally in the women’s category for many years.

In the round of 16 match of the women’s 66kg boxing event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Imane Khelif (Algeria) knocked out Angela Carini (Italy) in just 46 seconds. The 25-year-old female boxer threw two powerful punches, forcing her opponent to retire.

However, before she could celebrate her first victory, Khelif became the focus of criticism for being suspected of being transgender. On social media, many people opposed Khelif’s presence at the Olympics. Some famous people such as billionaire Elon Musk and author J.K. Rowling also publicly supported this opinion.

The incident began in March 2023 when Khelif was disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, India, after failing an International Boxing Association (IBA) test. At that time, the organizers discovered an XY chromosome in the athlete’s genome. Khelif appealed the IBA’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but later withdrew the appeal.

Boxer Angela Carini (in blue) burst into tears and begged to give up after receiving two punches from Imane Khelif (Photo: EPA).

Imane Khelif was born in 1999 in a small village in Tiaret province, northwest Algeria. In an interview with Canal Algerie (now TV2), the athlete shared that when she was young, she used to play football but switched to boxing on the advice of her school coach.

“I never thought that one day I would be a boxer and become a world champion,” she said.

Khelif “fell in love” with boxing as soon as she stepped into the ring for the first time. However, she encountered many difficulties when growing up in a conservative family and locality. There, everyone thought that boxing was a sport only for men.

To pursue her passion, Khelif had to go to a neighboring village to learn boxing. Because her family was poor, she had to sell bread and collect scraps to sell to have money to buy bus tickets.

Khelif’s childhood photos were also published. After doubts about the athlete’s gender arose, this series of photos went viral again.

On the X platform (now Twitter), the account @tastefullysaucy commented: “It’s crazy that people have to post Imane Khelif’s childhood photos to prove that she was born a woman. All because she knocked out her opponent in just 40 seconds.” This opinion received a lot of sympathy from netizens.

A photo of Khelif as a child was posted on Facebook by relatives (Photo: FB).

Khelif in a photo with her school friends (Photo: FB).

Throughout her career, Khelif has always competed in the women’s categories. She competed at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi (India) in 2018 (ranked 17th), then competed in Russia the following year. She also reached the quarterfinals of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won 2nd place at the 2022 Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul (Turkey).

Khelif has never identified herself as transgender or intersex (a term used to describe people whose gender characteristics do not fit the typical definition of either male or female).

In the wake of the public backlash in recent days, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has condemned the abuse directed at Khelif and Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-ting – who was also disqualified from the 2023 women’s world boxing championships by the IBA for similar reasons to Khelif.

Mark Adams – IOC spokesman – stated: “In their passports, they are still female. They are clearly marked as women. Testosterone is not a perfect test. Many women can have testosterone at levels that are considered male. But they are still women and can compete with women.”

Khelif has never identified himself as transgender or intersex (Photo: Reuters).

Irish boxer Amy Broadhurst – who fought Khelif and won in 2022 – also rejected the criticism directed at the Algerian athlete.

“I don’t think she did anything to cheat. How she was born is beyond her control. The fact that she has been defeated by nine women so far says it all,” she said.

In fact, there are many cases of women carrying the XY chromosome due to a genetic disorder. This leads to developmental differences in sex development (DSD). Athletes are born female but over time, they can develop male genitalia. These athletes’ testosterone levels are many times higher than normal for women.

Above all, the truth is that Imane Khelif has always considered herself a woman and the IOC allowed her to participate in the Olympics as such.