The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have been mired by the Imane Khelif story who has been the target of continuous attacks online. Claressa Shields, former Olympian and current boxing world champion, was quick to judge but has since changed her tone since finding out more.
Imane Khelif
Imane Khelif was suspended last year by the International Boxing Association (IBA) due to being born with XY chromosomes. This decision was criticized by the IOC as not having proper procedure. Due to this decision, the Olympic boxer Khelif has been the target of much hatred online. However, Khelif is a woman, not trans, was born a woman, and has always identified as a woman. It is illegal in Algeria, her home, to transition.
UFC fighters, boxers, online personalities, and more, began attacking Imane Khelif online due to this story which was caused by the IBA. Karim Zidan explains, “It is also worth noting that the IBA has been banned from regulating Olympic boxing because of years of governance problems, a lack of financial transparency and many perceived instances of corruption in judging and refereeing.”
The IOC adds, “The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.”
Claressa Shields Apologizes
Claressa Shields is one of the greatest female boxers in history. She earned two gold medals in the Olympic games while representing the USA. Since turning pro, she has earned WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, WBF, and The Ring world titles across multiple weight divisions. Additionally, Shields competes in MMA with the PFL. The GWOAT, like so many online, were quick to jump and attack. But, since learning more, she has now apologized.
“You can’t look at a woman and say ‘Oh, she doesn’t have a high level of testosterone,’” Shields explained while speaking to TMZ, “Because it can come in all different forms. Your muscles, your face, just inside of you and you look like a petite, beautiful woman, but you have a high level of testosterone…I feel bad now because I did an interview with Fox News earlier where I literally called these two women, transgenders, which that’s what I was told…”
“I wish I would’ve did my research before,” she continued, “Because now I couldn’t imagine being at the Olympics, winning these fights, and now I’m seeing all these articles and I’m trending because a two-time Olympic champ just called me a transgender. I just feel really bad about that, and I want to clear it up on my end that I have found out that these two women, were born women, and I don’t know what this testosterone stuff is about.” [H/t BJPenn]
Imane Khelif is actively competing in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as a boxer. Overall, she has an amateur record of 37-9-0.
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