Algerian Olympic boxing champion, Imane Khelif filed a complaint on Friday in Paris for cyberbullying, after being the victim of a controversy over her gender, his lawyer Nabil Boudi announced in a statement on Saturday.
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“Boxer Imane Khelif, who has just won the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, has decided to fight a new battle: that of justice, dignity and honour,” wrote Nabil Boudi.
Imane Khelif, with her gold medal.
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The lawyer indicated that on Friday “filed a complaint for aggravated cyberbullying” to the department of combating online hatred of the Paris prosecutor’s office.
“The criminal investigation will determine who was at the forefront of this misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign, but it will also have to focus on those who have fueled this digital lynching.“, he added.
For the lawyer, “the unjust harassment suffered by the boxing champion will remain as the biggest mistake of these Olympic Games.”
Imane Khelif has been boxing since she was 16 years old.
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Khelif was gold, amidst controversy
Boxer Imane Khelif won the welterweight (-66 kg) final at Roland Garros on Friday. After quietly competing in Tokyo 2020, Khelif reluctantly found herself embroiled in a gender controversy in Paris led by conservative circles, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Federation (IBA) at odds over the issue.
The controversy began last year when Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting, also in the spotlight for the same issue, were disqualified from the women’s world championship. According to FIBA, Imane Khelif failed a test to determine her gender. The federation refused to specify what type of test it had administered.
In her debut at the Paris Olympics, Imane Khelif beat her opponent, Italian Angela Carini, in just 46 seconds.
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The IOC maintains that the Algerian can participate in the Olympic Games in the women’s categoryThe controversy resurfaced in Paris when her first-round opponent, Italian Angela Carini, abandoned the fight in the first minute.
On social media, the boxer was the victim of a hate and misinformation campaign, which portrayed her as “a man who fights w
omen.”
“I am a strong woman with special powers. From the ring, I sent a message to those who were against me”Imane Khelif told reporters on Friday after winning gold. “I am fully eligible to participate, I am a woman like any other. I was born a woman, I have lived as a woman and I have competed as a woman,” the boxer insisted.
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