Imane Khelif is an Algerian boxer and has represented her country at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. On 1st August, in the second round of the women’s 66 kg event, she defeated Italy’s Angela Carini after she withdrew claiming she felt intense pain in her nose and to “preserve her life“.
Khelif has since received a wave of transphobic abuse on social media (including from former boxer and two-time Olympic champion Nicola Adams). Here’s what I know:
- Imane Khelif is a woman.
- She was assigned female at birth.
- She is not trans.
- She has been cleared to fight.
- Regardless of gender or sex, we all have testosterone in our bodies; it’s just that some of us have more than others.
- Terms like “biological woman” are transphobic and bullshit
- This runs even deeper than gender as so often it’s women of colour who are targeted by transphobia
I stand with Imane and if you knew what was good for you, you would too. I wish her the best of luck in her future bouts and hope the IOC or any other boxing governing body doesn’t decide to take her out of the competition due to transphobia. We’ve had enough of that with Caster Semenya amongst others.
Update: Imane Khelif won gold because of course she did 💪🏽