Female boxer suspected of being transgender, Algerian Olympic Committee says 'unethical defamation'
VTC News•02/08/2024
(VTC News) - The Algerian Olympic Committee affirmed that the gender suspicions aimed at Imane Khelif are baseless and unethical.
The Algerian Olympic Committee spoke up to defend athlete Imane Khelif. The female boxer is suspected of being transgender, causing a lot of controversy when participating in the Paris Olympics 2024. " The Algerian Olympic Committee strongly condemns the unethical defamation aimed at Imane Khelif with baseless propaganda from foreign media agencies. The attacks on her personality are unjust. We will take all necessary measures to protect our athlete, " Reuters news agency quoted the announcement of the Algerian Olympic Committee. The match in the round of 16 of the women's 66kg boxing category at the Paris Olympics 2024 between Imane Khelif (Algeria) and Angela Carini (Italy) caused a lot of controversy. The match ended quickly after 46 seconds when the Ilay boxer quickly gave up because he could not withstand the punches from his opponent.
Imane Khelif has been involved in many controversies.
The match was controversial when rumors arose that Imane Khelif was transgender, having some biological signs of a male. Last year, Khelif was disqualified just before the gold medal match at the World Championships organized by the International Boxing Association (IBA). She failed the DNA test. The organizers discovered that the athlete had an XY chromosome in her genome. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) still allowed Imane and Lin Yu-ting (Chinese Taiwanese, 57kg category) to participate. Both have developmental differences in sex development (DSD). In addition, the IOC also "turned a blind eye" even though Imane Khelif's male hormone (testosterone) level was very high. Previously, some sports such as athletics had limits on the amount of male hormones in female athletes. If this limit was exceeded, the athlete was not allowed to participate in certain events. The IOC's decision has caused quite a bit of controversy. Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi questioned: " There is no consensus on the minimum parameters for athletes' hormones. In cases that represent the highest values of sport, the safety of male and female athletes must be guaranteed. In addition, fair competition must be respected ."
Comment (0)