Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, gold medalist at the Paris Olympics and victim of attacks on her gender, is preparing legal action following the publication of articles purporting to reveal her medical file.
• Also read: Imane Khelif: the boxer was indeed a boxer!
This is what the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told AFP on Wednesday.
“We understand that Imane Khelif has taken legal action against people who commented on her situation during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and that she is also preparing action in response to the latest press reports,” the IOC writes in a press release.
“The IOC will not comment while legal action is pending, nor on media reports regarding unverified documents whose origin cannot be confirmed.”
French-speaking online media The Correspondent recently reignited the controversy, affirming in an article published at the end of October that Khelif was a carrier of male XY chromosomes.
The media says it relies on an unauthenticated report which would have been produced by the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital in the Paris region and the Mohamed Lamine Debaghine hospital in Algiers.
During the Paris Olympic Games, the boxer found herself unwillingly at the center of a controversy over her gender, led by conservative circles.
This finds its origin in his exclusion from the World Boxing Championships contested in March 2023. According to the International Boxing Federation (IBA), Imane Khelif had then failed a test intended to establish his gender.
Not recognized by the Olympic world, the IBA refused to specify what type of test had been carried out, while the IOC had estimated that it could participate in the Games in the women’s tournament.
The Algerian boxer was the victim of a campaign of hatred and disinformation marked by racism on social networks, presenting her as a “man fighting women”.
“I am a strong woman with special powers. From the ring, I sent a message to those who were against me,” Imane Khelif reacted after her victory.
In the past, Khelif has always participated in women’s boxing tournaments, including during the 2020 Olympics, without her participation causing the slightest controversy.
“The IOC is saddened by the attacks to which Imane Khelif is currently the subject,” added the Olympic body, specifying: “As with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the sex and age of the athletes were determined on the based on the information in their passport.”
An investigation was opened in August by French justice after a complaint for aggravated cyberstalking filed by the young woman.
