- A former sparring opponent of the Algerian has attacked her Olympic title
- Imane Khelif won Paris Olympic gold in the women’s 66kg boxing event
- Get all the latest Premier League news delivered straight to your phone with Mail Sport. new whatsapp channel
A former sparring opponent of Olympic gold medallist boxer Imane Khelif has labelled the Algerian “a man” and bizarrely suggested she has been “biologically altered” by living in the mountains.
The claim comes in the wake of the Paris Games, where Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting won Olympic gold in several boxing weight classes amid disputes over their eligibility to compete.
Both wrestlers had previously been disqualified by the IBA from competing at the 2023 World Championships after failing a gender test, but had insisted they were born female.
IOC President Thomas Bach has struggled when pressed on controversial issues such as Khelif and is now set to step down with Lord Sebastien Coe a candidate to replace him.
Meanwhile, Khelif was given a hero’s welcome in Algeria when she returned with an Olympic gong following the closing ceremony in Paris on Sunday, where she carried the nation’s flag.
A former sparring opponent of Olympic gold medallist boxer Imane Khelif has called the Algerian a “man”
Khelif won gold at the Paris Olympics but faced controversy over her eligibility to compete.
The 25-year-old faced multiple questions about her status in the gender dispute in boxing at the Games.
The 25-year-old faced multiple questions about the gender issue at the Games and always defended her presence, insisting after her victory: “I am fully qualified. I am a woman like any other woman.”
However, Bulgarian-Nigerian boxer Joana Nwamerue has labelled Khelif a “man” and explained how during a training session in February she witnessed the Olympic champion’s “masculine power and masculine techniques”.
“(Khelif) has some kind of internal issues. But he is a man. I will stand by my word until a test is done to prove to the world that he is a WOMAN. But we all know that will not happen,” Nwamerue said. Redux.
“I think we did three or four sparring sessions. I have a record of everything. I can confirm that for me this is a man. Masculine power. Masculine techniques, everything,” he added.
Nwamerue later suggested that Khelif had been “biologically altered” by living in the mountain ranges of Algeria.
Bulgarian-Nigerian boxer Joana Nwamerue (pictured) has called Khelif a “man”
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting (left) also faced controversy over her Olympic eligibility.
Nwamerue added: ‘Khelif’s teammates came to me and said ‘Imane is not a man.
“She is a woman and she just lives in the mountains with her relatives and parents, so there may be a change in her testosterone or chromosomes and the like.”
After returning to Algeria following the conclusion of the Paris Games on Sunday evening, Khelif and the Algerian Olympic delegation were greeted by fans, journalists and government officials at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers.
Khelif smiled and presented her gold medal to members of the crowd outside the airport terminal, while appearing to pump her fist in the air in celebration of her victory.