Boxer Imane Khelif's Transgender Issue Damages Sportsmanship in Sports

JAKARTA – Some people in the world seem angry with Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and her participation in the women's boxing Olympics after her opponent, Angela Carini from Italy, fell in just 46 seconds.

After Khelif threw a punch right at Carini's face, the Italian boxer stopped the match because she felt pain in her nose. Shortly after, Carini emphasized that her decision was not a "political statement".

However, the victory immediately made Imane Khelif the center of attention. The day after the match which was held on Thursday (1/8/2024), information about Imane Khelif's gender circulated quickly on the internet. A narrative emerged that Khelif was not a woman since birth or that she changed her gender to become a woman. This narrative is getting wilder, some even say she is transgender.

Now, after she has successfully qualified for the final of the women's 66kg class at the 2024 Paris Olympics by defeating Janjaem Suwannapheng from Thailand, Imane Khelif admits that the negative stigma she received has sparked hatred in society.

Starting from IBA Statement 

Imane Khelif from Algeria is one of two female boxers who are currently in the spotlight due to a gender eligibility controversy. Khelif and Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan are in the spotlight after Khelif's first victory at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The controversy actually started with a statement from the International Boxing Association or IBA, which questioned the participation of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The IBA said that they had disqualified the two from the women's world boxing championship held in New Delhi, India, on March 24, 2023.

At that time, both were considered to have failed to meet the eligibility requirements to participate in women's competitions. The IBA said that both did not have XX chromosomes for female sex, but XY chromosomes for male sex. However, until now the IBA has refused to reveal what type of test was used and denied testing Khelif's testosterone levels.

But for information, the boxing rules at the 2024 Paris Olympics no longer refer to the IBA rules. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the IBA in 2019 due to concerns over financial, governance, ethics, refereeing and judging issues.

Because it failed to carry out the reforms set by the IOC, the IBA's status as a world sports body was revoked by the IOC in 2023. Instead, the IOC used the 2020 Tokyo Olympics rules as a basis and no longer used the IBA as a reference.

Female Since Birth

Regarding the allegation that Khelif is a transgender, the IOC denied it in its statement at the Paris Olympics on August 1.

"The Algerian boxer was born female, registered as a female, lives her life as a female, boxes as a female and has a female passport," said Mark Adams, an IOC spokesman.

"This is not a transgender case. There is some confusion that somehow this is a man fighting a woman, but that is not the case. Scientifically it is not like this is a man fighting a woman," he added.

What Khelif is going through right now is certainly very detrimental to her. Who is Imane Khelif really?

Khelif is a 25-year-old woman who has been serious about boxing for the past eight years. She made her debut in the amateur boxing ring when she was 19 years old, when she was ranked 17th at the 2018 World Championships.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics was Khelif's Olympic debut. However, at that time her progress was stopped in the quarter-finals because she lost 0-5 to Irish boxer Kellie Harrington in a fight in the 60kg lightweight category.

But then Khelif became the first Algerian boxer to win a World Championship medal. She took home a silver medal in 2022, after losing in the final.

Before appearing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Khelif won a gold medal at the Arab Games in the 66kg category by defeating Alcinda Panguana from Mozambique in the final of the African Olympic qualification tournament in Senegal.

Throughout her amateur boxing career, Khelif has experienced nine defeats to women.

Amid the backlash, Imane Khelif made a statement after she won her match against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori to secure a semi-final spot and a medal.

“I want to tell the whole world that I am a woman, and I will remain a woman,” Khelif said.

Triggering Hate

With the Algerian flag fluttering on her shoulders, Khelif, in tears, said she dedicated her medal to the world and to all Arabs.

Imane Khelif is aware that the gender issue has spread far and wide, and that this has led to her receiving insults and criticism.

After the quarterfinal match, Imane Khelif said that this gender misunderstanding fuels hateful rhetoric that “harms human dignity” and appealed to society to stop the “persecution” of these athletes.

“I am sending a message to the entire world community to uphold the principles of the Olympics and the Olympic medal, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has a very big impact,” Khelif told AP.

"This can destroy people, it can kill people's minds, souls, and minds. It can divide society," she continued.

The accusation that she is transgender is difficult to prove. Especially considering that Algeria is a country with a Muslim majority population, so the LGBTQ+ community is rejected. In addition, gender transition is also illegal in Algeria.

But apart from that, we all agree that in every official sporting match, men should not fight women. But we also cannot arbitrarily accuse someone of being transgender just because of their superiority on the field, or in the case of Imane Khelif in the boxing ring.

Sportsmanship must be the most upheld thing in every sporting competition.