2024-08-05 15:58:05
The female boxer Algerian Olympic Imane Khelif He broke the silence and referred to the Questions he received for his high testosterone levels. She said she was subjected to a “hateful scrutiny” based on misconceptions about their gender what “damages human dignity”.
The athlete spoke about her difficult Olympic experience This Sunday, in an interview with the international agency The Associated Press. “I send a message to all the peoples of the world so that respect the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charterso that Please refrain from harassing athletes, because this has consequences, huge consequences.“, said.
And he added that this harassment ““It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind.”
Khelif, 25, told the pressure and pain she was subjected to while competing He also lamented how the international media uproar and the questioning he was subjected to impacted his family. “They are worried about me. God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal, and that would be the best answer.”he added.
The Algerian boxer She beat the Hungarian Lucca Anna Hamori by unanimous decision (5-0) in the quarterfinals of the 66-kilogram category of the competition for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and he secured a medal.
The young girl She came down the steps of the ring crying with emotionaffected by the Controversy generated after the withdrawal of his rival in the round of 16, the Italian Angela Carini. “I couldn’t control my nerves,” he said in the interview. He explained that “after the media hype and after the victory, There was a mixture of joyOh, at the same time, I was very affectedbecause honestly, It was not something easy to go through at all” but “something that damages human dignity””.
In its debut at the Paris 2024 Olympic GamesKhelif was caught up in the eye of the storm after his rival, the Italian Angela Carini, retired from the fight when only 46 seconds had passed. It was then that a stir began in the international media and on social networks. debate about his “high level” of testosterone and his genderdespite having passed all eligibility requirements to participate in the competition.
The young woman was born in a rural town called Tiaret, in western Algeria, on May 2, 1999. To raise money for transportation and to go to training 10 kilometers from her home, the athlete sold scrap metal for recycling. at just 16 years old, while his mother was selling couscous. Together they paid for travel to the village so that Khelif could attend regular boxing training classes.
At the age of 19, she placed 17th at the 2018 World Championships in New Delhi and then represented Algeria at the 2019 World Championships in Russia, where she placed 33rd. In 2022, she won a silver medal at the 2022 International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships.
“I started with nothing and now I have everything. Both my parents come to support me; they are my biggest fans. My greatest achievement is being able to overcome the obstacles in my life,” she said in an interview with UNICEF, the UN entity she represents as an ambassador.
Despite having had a meteoric start, In 2023 she was disqualified from the World Boxing Championship, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The reason? She allegedly failed to meet the standards of an unspecified “gender eligibility test.”
At that time, the president of the International Boxing Association, Umar Kremlev claimed that Khelif’s and other athletes’ test results showed that she had XY chromosomes.—the sexual pair related to the cisgender man—, although The findings were never published, nor was it revealed what the tests consisted of.
Between 2015 and 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) required that anyone who wanted to participate in a women’s competition demonstrate that their testosterone levels were below 10 nanomoles per liter of blood for at least 12 months prior to the competition.
But to avoid cases of discrimination, and because High testosterone levels are not a benefit in all sports or in all casesthe IOC eliminated the aforementioned requirement and left each federation of the different sports to impose its own criteria.
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