The gold medal was “the most beautiful response” but Imane Khelif has not forgotten the attacks she suffered. The hyperandrogenic boxer had found herself in the middle of a controversy that called into question her participation in the Paris Olympic Games, after Angela Carini withdrew during their eighth-final (-66 kg).
A wave of hate and cyberbullying followed, fueled by athletes and public figures alike. Her quarter-final opponent, Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori, called her a “man,” while Elon Musk relayed a transphobic message of support for Angela Carini.
Invited on the show Clique on Canal+, Imane Khelif reacted to the cyberbullying campaign spread by the owner of X, whom she denounces as being one of the first people to have attacked her and to have relayed this buzz against her.
“My mother went to the hospital every day”
“I would say: ‘You hate me, you hate me, but you don’t even know me, I don’t even know why you led this campaign against me. You were unfair to me and to my family, to my mother. During that time, my mother went to the hospital every day,'” she laments in an excerpt published on the networks of the show which will be broadcast on Monday.
Overcome with emotion, the 25-year-old Algerian, visibly still very affected, stops for a few seconds, tears in her eyes. Then continues: “I don’t understand why the world behaves like this these days. I refer to God, I am a practicing Muslim Arab woman. I have overcome this stage. I hope to be even stronger in the future and come back with even greater motivation.”
Elon Musk had shared a tweet from American swimmer Riley Gaines on X. She claimed that “men have no place in women’s sports”, followed by the hashtag #IStandWithAngelaCarini, with a photo of the Italian. “Absolutely”, the billionaire replied, quoting the tweet. Her name was cited in the complaint filed by the boxer with the online hate division of the Paris prosecutor’s office for aggravated cyberbullying.
- RMC Sport
