Controversial Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has once again emerged in the news as a French journalist reportedly gained an access to a medical report, which claims that the athlete has testicles. The development follows just months after the 25-year-old claimed gold in the 66 KG Boxing event of the Paris 2024 Olympics and repeatedly claimed to be a woman.
According to reduxx.info, expert endocrinologists Soumaya Fedala and Jacques Young have prepared a report, which states that Khelif has 5-alpha reductase deficiency, a sexual development disorder found in biological males. In October, French journalist Djaffar Ait Aoudia had gained a copy of the thorough physical examination conducted on the athlete.
A chromosomal test also took place which further corroborated that Khelif has an XY karyotype. Moreover, a hormonal test indicated that Khelif had a testosterone level found commonly in males. Khelif had first come to light during the Olympics during the match against Italy's Angela Carini, who withdrew from the 66 KG Boxing match in the Olympics, claiming that she had hardly been hit so hard in life. As a result, social media users questioned the fairness of the contest as many started to label her "biologically male" and a "transgender".
"I was born a woman, I lived a woman" - Imane Khelif
After winning the gold medal in the Paris 2024 Olympics by beating China's Yang Liu, the young athlete said the criticism from everyone makes the success in the Olympics sweeter. Khelif said, as quoted by The Guardian:
"I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. [The detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks."
