Imane Khelif left rival thanking GOD for escaping horrific injuries in 2022 fight – with ‘biological male’ now sparking huge Olympics gender row

Imane Khelif thanked God for her rival fighter, as she did not suffer any serious injuries when she fought her in 2022, almost two years before a gender controversy broke out at the Paris Olympics.

Khelif defeated Italian Angela Carini on Thursday – she gave up 46 seconds after being caught on the nose in the first fights. She was in tears after the fight, saying she had pulled out for her own safety and that she had never been hit so hard.

And she is not the only athlete to make such comments after her match against Khelif.

In December 2022, Khelif defeated Brianda Tamara in Guadalajara, Mexico with such force that Tamara could not believe she had overcome a serious injury.

Months later, in March 2023, Khelif was disqualified from the finals of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships due to testosterone levels in her system, prompting Tamara to speak out.

Mexican fighter Brianda Tamara showed off her injuries sustained during her 2022 fight with Khelif

Briana Tamara spoke in March 2023 about how hurt she was by the fight with Khelif

She wrote on X at the time: ‘When I fought with her (Khelif) I felt very uncomfortable, her blows hurt me a lot.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this in the 13 years I’ve been boxing, and not even when sparring with men.

“Thank God I got out of the ring safely that day, and it’s good that they finally realized that.”

A post posted on Tamara’s Instagram account two days ago shows her face covered in cuts and bruises. The caption explains that this was after the fight in Khelif.

On Thursday, as Khelif’s fight with Carini threatened to overshadow the Paris Games so far, Tamara on X responded to Claressa Shields, an American boxer, by saying that people were sending her death threats after her comments about the fight with Khelif.

Shields wrote: ‘I take a stand! Women should fight women, men should fight men, and transgenders should fight transgenders! This is ridiculous and I feel sorry for the female boxers in the Olympics!’

Tamara wrote back: ‘But when I responded, they wished me dead.’

Khelif herself was strongly against her disqualification in 2023, saying at the time: ‘There are countries that did not want Algeria to win a gold medal.

“This is a conspiracy, a big conspiracy, and we will not remain silent about it.”

Genetic tests reportedly taken in 2023 have shown that 25-year-old Khelif has male XY chromosomes in her DNA. But she is not transgender.

There have been similar debates in sport before, with South African runner and two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya also having XY chromosomes in her DNA. However, the debate here is much more heated given the physical side of boxing.

Italian boxer Angela Carini was in tears as she gave up the fight with Khelif after 36 seconds

Khelif will fight Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori on Saturday at the Games in Paris

Khelif, who was defeated in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics, will fight Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori on Saturday, who says she is not worried.

“I’m not afraid,” Hamori told reporters. “I don’t care about the press release and the social media. If he or she is a man, it’s a bigger victory for me if I win.

“I try not to use my phone before the fight. I don’t want to worry about the reactions, the story or the news.

“I just want to focus on myself. I did that for my last two fights, so I think that’s the key, and we’ll see.”