Imane Khelif’s dad addresses Olympic gender row with key piece of evidence
Topics: News, World News, Olympics
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Topics: News, World News, Olympics
The father of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has weighed in on the row surrounding his daughter's appearance at the Olympic games.
Khelif found herself at the centre of an online maelstrom as misinformation about her circulated online after she beat Italy's Angela Carini in 46 seconds.
The controversy emerged from a previous ruling by the International Boxing Association (IBA), which claimed that Imane had failed an unspecified 'gender eligibility test'.
The IBA - which yesterday (August 5) demanded Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting 'prove that they were born women' - had its status as the official sporting body for boxing suspended in 2019 following concerns around corruption.
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These concerns included those around IBA president Umar Kremlev, who has ties to Vladimir Putin, as well as the association's main sponsor being Russian majority state-owned gas company Gazprom.
But all this has not stopped the row around Imane's appearance at the Paris 2024 from spreading around the internet.
Now, her father has weighed in on the row.
He told the Daily Mail: "Imane is a little girl that has loved sport since she was six years old, she used to play football.
"These critics and rumours aim to destabilise Imane, they don't want her to be the champion of the world.
"I tell her prove them wrong in the ring and I hope that she will honor Algeria and Arabic countries and win the gold medal. She is our role model, and we want to be like her and honor Algeria and Tiaret."
In a heartbreaking moment Imane's father even felt compelled to produce evidence that she was born as a woman.
This was an official document which showed Imane being recorded as a girl at birth.
Algeria's Olympic Committee called the row a series of 'malicious and unethical attacks directed against our distinguished athlete, Imane Khelif, by certain foreign media'.
Imane has also responded to the relentless bullying on social media, telling SNTV on August 4: "I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects.
"It can destroy people, it can kill people's thoughts, spirit and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying."
Imane's opponent Angela Carini has also expressed regret about how the controversy has spiralled out of control since their fight.
She said: "All this controversy makes me sad. I'm sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision."
Imane is still in the fight and is now guaranteed a place on the podium, though which medal remains to be seen.