Report claims Olympic champ is a ‘biological man’, country quits boxing body

A new report has claimed controversial Olympic champion Imane Khelif is a “biological man”, while boxing’s ugly brawl continues.

Calls for Olympics gender row boxer Imane Khelif to be stripped of her gold medal from the Paris Olympics have been made following a leaked medical report.

The Sun reports new documents have emerged allegedly proving that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, 25 is a “biological man”.

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According to French magazine Le Correspondant, Khelif’s medical records from 2023 showed she had neither ovaries or a uterus.

The report was initially put together in 2023 via collaboration between French and Algerian expert endocrinologists working at the Kremlin-Bicetre hospital in Paris, and the Mohamed Lamine Debaghine hospital in Algiers, as reported by German newspaper BiLD.

Medical experts determined that Khelif allegedly has what is known as a “5a-reductase-2 deficiency.”

This is a sexual development that is outside the norm and can only occur in biological men.

Algeria's Imane Khelif won gold in the women's 66kg final boxing category at the Paris Olympics. (Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP)

Newborns with the condition are often classified as girls as the testes are located inside.

The two reports are part of Khelif’s medical records, which have been known to the International Olympics Committee since May 2023.

It is not yet clear whether the IOC will now initiate a retrospective investigation and revoke the gold medal.

Earlier this year, the WBO were forced to deny “obviously false” reports that they had banned Khelif and stripped her of her Paris medal for failing gender eligibility tests.

The WBO’s legal counsel Gustavo Olivieri said in a statement the body had “not tested, nor had it banned,” Khelif and had had no communication with her.

A year prior to the Olympics, Khelif was disqualified from the Women’s World Championships for failing the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) gender eligibility rules.

But the Russian-led body was stripped of its governance by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over integrity and governance issues.

The IBA’s tests result and credibility was also called into question.

Khelif has previously insisted she is a biological female, stating: “As for whether I qualify or not, whether I am a woman or not, I have made many statements in the media.

“I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived as a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that.”

It’s unclear if the IOC will investigate reports Imane Khelif is a biological male. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)

The Olympic gold medallist made international headlines when Italian opponent Angela Carini quit just 46 seconds into their bout.

Following the controversial victory, Khelif’s dad Amar came out swinging to defend his daughter.

He said: “The attacks against her are immoral, it is not fair.

“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 honour Algeria and Arabic countries and win the gold medal.

“She is our role model, and we want to be like her and honour Algeria and Tiaret.”

Explaining how she first got into the sport, Khelif said: “I have always loved football and I played it in my little village. My father always preferred football to boxing.

“But I was very good at sports in my school and my teacher encouraged me to become a boxer since I had good physical qualities and he was right.”

She also went on to add: “I come from a conservative region and family. Boxing was a sport dedicated only to men.”

It was not a straightforward path into boxing as Khelif was forced to come up with the money to get her to the gym.

Last month Khelif announced plans to become a professional boxer.

Country quits boxing body

The development came hours after France became the latest country to quit the International Boxing Association (IBA), to “guarantee French boxing its place at the Olympic Games”, governing body FFBoxe said in a statement.

The IBA, the longstanding ruling body of traditionally amateur competitions, such as the Olympics, is involved in a brawl with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over financial, governance and ethical concerns.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune presents an award to Imane Khelif in the Algierian capital after the Olympics. (Photo by ALGERIAN PRESIDENCY FACEBOOK PAGE / AFP)

The IOC took over running the boxing competition at this year’s Paris Olympics. IOC president Thomas Bach warned that boxing’s national federations needed to find a new and “reliable” international partner for the IOC to be sure the sport features on the program at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

A decision is due early in 2025 on whether or not to keep the sport in the Games.

World Boxing, which was founded in 2023 and boasts around 50 members, led by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Brazil, is in discussions with the IOC to take over running the sport at the Games.

The IBA is chaired by the Kremlin-linked Russian Umar Kremlev who sparked a damaging gender controversy during the Paris Olympics when he claimed that two women fighters had “genetic testing that shows that these are men”.

The IBA responded with a chaotic press conference in Paris intended to clarify why it disqualified Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting from its world championships in 2023 but then cited “medical confidentiality” as it failed to produce definitive evidence. Both boxers won gold in Paris.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.

— With AFP

Originally published as Report claims Olympic champ is a ‘biological man’, country quits boxing body