Olympics 2024 | Imane Khelif breaks silence and defends herself after countless attacks over gender testing: ‘This damages human dignity’

Last week the name of Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer who was unfairly labeled as a transgender person competing in the women’s boxing category in the 2024 Olympic Games.

The controversy erupted because her rival in the round of 16, the Italian Angela Carini, She left the fight after 46 seconds in the ring, saying she had “never” been “hit so hard” in her life.

Wrong accusation

Although the debate originated a day earlier, when the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, rated Imane Khelif already the Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting of transgender people, based on tests carried out by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2023, which decided to disqualify the Algerian from the World Amateur Women’s Boxing Championship for failing gender tests after finding high levels of testosterone in an analysis.

However the International Olympic Committee He always defended the 25-year-old fighter and backed her up by explaining that the tests were “arbitrary” and “so flawed that it is impossible to take them into account.”

Imane continued in Paris and defeated the Hungarian Luca Hamori in the quarter-finals. Despite the barrage of criticism from collective imaginations that were created without knowing her true history, the Algerian overcame the difficulties.

Imane defends herself

After the fight with the Hungarian, she could barely speak because of her nerves and the helplessness she felt due to the countless comments against her. However, this Monday she broke her silence in an interview with The Associated Press and sent a message to all those people who judge without knowing the background of the facts.

“I send a message to all the peoples of the world to respect the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, “to refrain from harassing athletes, because this has consequences, enormous consequences,” Imane began by saying.

The 25-year-old athlete, far from holding grudges against criticism and accusations without just cause, invited humanity to reflect because it has been “subjected to hateful scrutiny” based on evidence that is in question.

“It can destroy people, divide them, pit them against each other. And that is why I ask you to refrain from doing so,” said the Algerian, who confessed that after the fight against Hámori she could not control her nerves to send this message.

“I couldn’t control my nerves… After the media hype and after the victory, there was a mixture of joy and, at the same time, I was very affected, because honestly, it was not an easy thing to go through at all because it is something that damages human dignity,” she said.

Imane closed the interview by talking about her family, who has suffered the most from these comments from people who want to damage her image and want to affect her before the fight she will have this Tuesday against the Thai Janjaem Suwannapheng.

“They are worried about me. God willing, this crisis will end in a gold medal, and that would be the best answer,” he concluded.

HAROLD YEPES

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