The Algerian boxer and Olympic medalist Imane Khelif, embroiled in gender controversy during the Paris 2024 Games, is back in the news, but this time due to false information circulating on social media.
According to the criteria of
Publications published in X and Facebook Khelif has been banned for life by the WBO, following a ruling by the body that called the athlete “a man.” The entries say that the Algerian athlete “loses all medals and the $25 million prize money.”
As evidence, the messages include an article from a supposed sports news portal, a screenshot of a headline and an image of the boxer in underwear in which she appears with a penis but no breasts.
Imane Khelif has been boxing since she was 16 years old.
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It was not vetoed
It is false that the World Boxing Organization permanently disqualified Khelif following a ruling that identified her as a man. There is no evidence of such a sanction either in official channels or in the cited article.
Furthermore, the image shared by the profiles is synthetic, as demonstrated by an analysis with specialized tools and numerous errors present in the content.
First of all, there is no trace of the alleged verdict on the organization’s website. An advanced search shows that the WBO website only mentions the boxer’s name in an episode of her podcast in which she discussed the controversy surrounding the gold medal she won at Paris 2024.
Imane Khelif, in contention for gold.
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Although the programme featured an interview with a doctor, in whose professional opinion Khelif is biologically a man, the organisation has not officially endorsed this position and has not imposed the aforementioned sanctions on the athlete. The article attached to the viral posts, meanwhile, provides no evidence and originates from a blog of dubious reliability.
For example, the site provides inconsistent information in its legal details section, has a poor design, and features an excess of invasive advertisements common on fraudulent websites. Furthermore, a Google search in Spanish and English shows that this supposed news story does not appear in credible media outlets in either of these two languages.
An artificially generated image
The image has several errors that allow us to identify that it was created with artificial intelligence and is not a real photograph. The texts in the background ads are incomprehensible, the skin of the torso looks unrealistically smooth and the men in the background have deformed faces and hands.
A test carried out using the Iveres app – a project co-led by RTVE and the Autonomous University of Barcelona to detect disinformation and manipulated images – also showed a 98% probability that the image was fictitious.
Finally, an advanced search reveals that the oldest post of this image is from August 24 and is from a profile identified with the username @MidJourneyPorn. This is an account that distributes graphic content using artificial intelligence programs.
Imane Khelif won the gold medal at Paris 2024 this Friday.
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In the past, EFE Verifica has already confirmed that there is no evidence to prove that the athlete is biologically male. The claim was denied by the International Olympic Committee and gender reassignment is prohibited in her country.
In conclusion, it is false that female boxer Imane Khelif has been banned for life by the World Boxing Organization for “being a man.” There are no traces of this penalty on the institution’s official channels and no credible media outlet has replicated the alleged news, which is accompanied by an image of the athlete created with artificial intelligence that shows her with a false male body.
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