Algeria’s Imane Khelif (Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP) (Photo by MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)
A significant update has come out that changes everything about the backlash sent to boxer Imane Khelif.
Imane Khelif of Algeria won her opening Olympic boxing bout Thursday when opponent Angela Carini of Italy quit after just 46 seconds.
Major backlash would come out on social media after news surfaced that Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test, which made her presence at the Paris Olympics a divisive issue.
Angela Carini only took two punches to the face before she decided she did not want to take that punching power anymore.
Carini refused to shake Khelif’s hand after the decision was announced, and she cried in the ring before leaving.
Social media erupted over claims that Imane Khelif of Algeria was a man.
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As it turns out, those claims of her being a transgender boxer were untrue.
Imane Khelif was indeed born a woman.
Angela Carini’s decision to quit her bout against Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds at the Paris Olympics led to emotional scenes from the Italian, who was reduced to tears. Whether she likes it or not, she lost to a woman.
International Olympic Committee Releases Statement On Backlash of Imane Khelif
A lot has been said about Imane Khelif, but much of this has not been the truth. Social media thinks she is a transgender who just destroyed a female boxer, when in reality, she is a woman.
According to Reuters, Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting failed a test mandated by the International Boxing Association in 2023.
However, in a statement Thursday, the IOC ripped that decision, saying that the two athletes were “victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA” and added that “every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination.”
