Imane Khelif wins gold amid gender row

On Friday, Imane Khelif won the Olympic gold medal in the women’s boxing 66-kilogram (145-pound) division by beating China’s Yang Liu. Though Khelif’s has won Gold, her participation in the Paris Olympics has been filled with challenges both inside and outside the ring.

The controversy initially started after Khelif’s opponent, Italian boxer Angela Carini, withdrawn from the match after 46 seconds. Afterward, a post on social media wrongly claimed that Khelif was transgender and assigned male at birth, triggering an online uproar. People debate whether or not Khelif should be allowed to compete in the women’s category. However, Khelif is neither a transgender nor identify as an intersex.

“God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal, and that would be the best response,” Khelif said in an interview. “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.”

Angela Carini later issued an apology to Imane Khelif stating ‘Actually, I want to apologise to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke’.