Donald Trump mocked Olympic boxer Imane Khelif after the controversial Algerian boxer won gold in Paris on Friday after being scrutinized during the Games for her gender.
Khelif defeated Yang Liu of China in the final of the women’s welterweight division, closing out the best series of fights of her boxing career with a victory at Roland Garros.
But hours later in Montana, Khelif was the target of some verbal sparring from Trump as he addressed a crowd at a rally in Bozeman.
“Who wants men to be involved in women’s sports? I’d like to congratulate the young lady who has evolved from a man to a woman. She won gold,” Trump said.
Her comments were incorrect: Khelif is not transgender and was born female, but was claimed to have male XY chromosomes after taking a test last year under the IBA, which has since largely refused to answer questions about how the process works.
Donald Trump attacked Imane Khelif at his final rally in Bozeman, Montana, on Friday
Khelif defeated Yang Liu of China in the women’s welterweight division final for Olympic gold
Trump continued: “What about the woman, the beautiful woman from Italy? She went in there and had no idea what was going on. She’s a very good boxer, but only against other women.”
She was referring to Angela Carini, who left the fight with Khelif last week 46 seconds after being hit in the nose. She was crying and said she had never been hit that hard before.
Trump faked the punch and then said, ‘He did this. She immediately said, wow, no one has ever hit me that hard.’
“Then he does it again and she gives up immediately.”
Speaking at a news conference after winning gold on Friday, and before Trump’s comments, Khelif said: “For eight years, this has been my dream and now I am an Olympic champion and gold medalist.
“That also gives my success a special flavour because of those attacks. We are at the Olympics to perform as athletes and I hope we won’t see similar attacks at future Olympics.
“I am fully qualified to participate in this competition. I am a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I live as a woman and I am qualified.”
Khelif said he has been boxing in IBA competitions since 2018, but now “they hate me and I don’t know why.”
“I send you only one message with this gold medal, and that is that my dignity and my honor are above all else,” he said.
