- A former sparring opponent of the Algerian has criticised her Olympic title
- Imane Khelif won Olympic gold in Paris in the women’s 66kg boxing event
- Get the latest Premier League news direct to your phone with Mail Sport’s new whatsapp channel
A former training opponent of Olympic boxer Imane Khelif called the Algerian “a man” and suggested she has been “biologically changed” by her life in the mountains.
The claim comes after the Paris Games, where Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting both won Olympic gold in different weight classes in boxing amid controversy over their eligibility.
Both fighters had previously been disqualified from the 2023 world championships by the IBA after failing a gender test, but they continued to maintain that they were born female.
IOC President Thomas Bach has struggled when faced with controversial issues such as Khelif’s and is now on the verge of stepping down, with Lord Sebastien Coe in the running to replace him.
Meanwhile, Khelif received a hero’s welcome in Algeria when she returned with an Olympic gong after the closing ceremony in Paris on Sunday, where she carried the national flag.
A former training opponent of Olympic gold medal boxer Imane Khelif has called the Algerian ‘a man’
Khelif won gold at the Paris Olympics, but faced controversy over her participation.
The 25-year-old has faced multiple questions about her status in the gender dispute in boxing at the Games
The 25-year-old has faced multiple questions about the gender conflict at the Games and has always defended her presence. After her victory, she insisted: ‘I am fully qualified. I am a woman like any other woman.’
However, Bulgarian-Nigerian boxer Joana Nwamerue called Khelif a “man,” explaining how she witnessed the Olympic champion’s “manly strength and manly techniques” during a sparring session in February.
‘[Khelif] has some kind of internal problems. But he is a man. I stay [by] my words until he/she takes a test to prove to the world that he/she is a WOMAN. But we all know that won’t happen,’ Nwamerue said Reduxx.
“I think we had 3-4 sparring sessions. I have a report of everything. I can confirm that this is a man for me. Manly power. Manly techniques, everything,” she added.
Nwamerue then argued that Khelif had been “biologically altered” by living in the mountain ranges of Algeria.
Bulgarian-Nigerian boxer Joana Nwamerue (pictured) has labeled Khelif a ‘man’
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting (left) also faced controversy over her participation in the Olympics
Nwamerue added: ‘[Khelif’s] Teammates came to me and said, ‘Imane is not a man.
“She’s a woman and she lives high up in the mountains with her relatives and parents. So there could be a change in her testosterone or chromosomes and things like that.”
After Khelif flew back to Algeria on Sunday evening following the Olympic Games in Paris, he and the Algerian Olympic delegation were greeted by fans, reporters and government officials at Houari Boumediene airport in Algiers.
Khelif smiled and presented her gold medal to those gathered outside the airport terminal, raising her fists in the air in celebration of her victory.