Imane Khelif Speaks Out Against Gender Controversy After Reaching Gold Medal Match At Paris Olympics

Amidst all the controversy around her gender and legitimacy of participation, female Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has silenced all her critics as she's stormed into the finals of Women's 66KG boxing and will now be gunning to win one of the most hotly debater Gold Medals in Olympics history.

Imane Khelif beat Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng by unanimous decision and secured at least a Silver medal from Paris Olympics. Amidst allegations of being a 'biological male', Imane Khelif post her victory spoke out against the issue as she shifted her attention to win Gold for her country, Algeria.

Imane Khelif speaks out against gender controversy

Imane Khelif is accused to be a 'biological male' and her participation had been in limelight ever since she beat Italy's Angela Carini which forced the Italian to quit inside 46 seconds and saying it was unjust.

Since then, Khelif's participation had been questioned, however the International Olympics Committee always maintained their stand that they won't discriminate with Khelif.

Khelif managed to keep focus amidst the controversy and has now made it to the finals. Post making the finals she spoke out against the issue saying that she only wants to focus her energy on the finals.

"I don't want to talk about the controversy...I am focusing on the competition and other things are not important. The important thing is that I am in the final now," spoke out Imane Khelif against the controversy to Bein Sports.

Imane Khelif further opened up that reaching the final at Olympics and winning Gold was a dream for her.

"I am very proud of this new achievement. I gave everything I had. We worked as a team for years and the dream has become a reality. I hope to focus and be up to the responsibility in the dream final," said Khelif.

Is Imane Khelif a biological male?

Imane Khelif has been accused of being a biological male. However, Khelif was born as a female and is a socially accepted female. 

She has a condition called DSD, (Differences in Sex Development) in which a person's chromosomes are affected and their testosterone levels are high. 

This is the reason behind Khelif failing her gender test in 2023 and her chromosomes reflecting XY (male chromosomes). To label a person with DSD as a biological male or female is not considered to be right.