Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif has shown off her new makeover as she poses with her Paris 2024 gold medal.
The Algerian boxer won gold in the women’s welterweight division in France earlier this month amid a backdrop of discussion and backlash about her participation in the Games after she had previously been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after failing a gender eligibility test.
Khelif, alongside Chinese Taipei fighter Lin Yu-ting , received scrutiny on her appearance in Paris after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had cleared both boxers to participate after taking control of the governing process and implementing more lenient controls than the IBA. The 25-year-old beat China’s Yang Liu in the gold medal bout last week.
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After claiming her Olympic crown, Khelif underwent a makeover to celebrate her triumph, looking unrecognisable from her appearances in the ring. A video posted on Instagram shows Khelif punching towards the camera wearing boxing gloves before the clip transitions into the boxer wearing a floral pink outfit with matching hoop earrings, pink eyeliner and lip gloss. Khelif also shows off her medal to the camera with a smile.
Khelif had to overcome criticism from fans as well as a number of leading celebrities and public figures such as X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Harry Potter author JK Rowling. Former president Donald Trump also referred to the fighter as a “man”.
“Who wants men to participate in women’s sports? I would like to congratulate the young woman who has evolved from a man to a woman. He... She won gold,” Trump said.
The Algerian had to remain focused on her Olympic goal during the turmoil of the outrage. She was eventually able to hit out at her critics having achieved glory, and she did so by defending her participation. “I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I am a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman. I have lived as a woman. I competed as a woman - there is no doubt about that,” Khelif said.
Khelif has filed a complaint to French authorities with lawyer Nabin Boudi as she hits back at her treatment during the Games, naming both Musk and Trump. “Immediately after there was a lot of noise from politicians, athletes, stars, artists — Elon Musk and Donald Trump and that hurt me a lot, I cannot describe how scared I was,” she said.
"This affected me. I'm not lying to you, it affected me a lot. It hurt a lot. I can't describe the fear I had but thank God I was able to overcome it. Thank god, all the people of Algeria and the Arab world knew Imane Khelif with her femininity, her courage, her will.
"Honestly, I don't like to get into politics in sports, but they got into politics in sports. Sports and politics are two separate things. These politicians who are oppressing me, they don't have the right to say that I'm a transgender."
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