Boxing: “I’m not a transsexual, I’m a girl,” asserts Imane Khelif | EUROtoday

Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif is able to bear a gender take a look at by the world affiliation World Boxing earlier than the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. “I’m not transsexual. My difference is natural. That’s just how I am. I haven’t done anything to change the way nature created me,” Khelif stated in an interview with the French sports activities newspaper “L’Équipe”: “That’s why I’m not afraid. If I have to undergo a test for the next games, I will do it.”

At the Summer Games in Paris, a gender debate arose round Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan, which triggered an enormous stir and took on a socio-political dimension. Khelif received welterweight gold on the Games. In the interview, the Algerian boxer defined that she had been present process hormone therapy within the run-up to the Paris Games.

“I have female hormones. People don’t know this, but I have already lowered my testosterone levels for competitions. I am surrounded by doctors, under the supervision of a professor and have done hormone treatments to lower my testosterone levels,” Khelif stated. “For the Paris Games qualifying tournament that took place in Dakar, I reduced my testosterone levels to zero.”

Khelif reacts to Trump’s statements

The athlete additionally responded to vital statements made by US President Donald Trump in the direction of Khelif throughout the election marketing campaign. Trump known as her a “man who changed his gender.” Trump shouldn’t distort the reality, she stated. “I’m not a transsexual, I’m a girl. I was raised as a girl, I grew up as a girl, the people in my village have always known me as a girl. I respect him if he respects the truth.”

Subscribe to WELTMeister Spotify, Apple Podcasts or instantly by way of RSS-Feed.

Khelif confirmed that he wished to compete on the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. “Just because I fight as a professional doesn’t mean I’m giving up on the 2028 Games. Not at all. I want to box for Algeria at the Los Angeles Games and become the first athlete in Algerian history to be able to defend her Olympic victory.”