Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif is speaking out amid her ongoing cyberbullying lawsuit.
The Algerian boxer achieved Olympic champion status in Paris, but her victory has not been without controversy.
The bout that drew significant attention was Khelif’s match against Italy’s Angela Carini. The fight saw minimal punches exchanged before the Italian boxer abandoned the contest altogether.
In 2023, Khelif faced a ban from the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test.
Despite being born a woman and listed as such on her passport, and having been deemed eligible to compete by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Olympics, Khelif has been subjected to severe online harassment.
She has since taken legal action against several individuals accused of committing ‘acts of aggravated cyber harassment’.
No specific individuals have been named as defendants yet, though figures like JK Rowling and Elon Musk have been mentioned in relation to the case.
As the case progresses, Khelif has decided to speak publicly.
In an interview with El Birad, Khelif expressed that she was ‘hurt a lot’ by the discussions surrounding her gender at the Olympics.
“But immediately after there was a big uproar from big politicians around the world, athletes around the world, and even artists and stars, Elon Musk, Trump.. this thing….. that affected me,” she told the Algerian-based news channel.
“I am not lying to you, it affected me. It affected me a lot, hurt me a lot. I can’t describe to you the amount of fear I had.”
She continued: “The scenario was very scary. Thank god, all the people of Algeria and the Arab world knew Imane Khelif with her femininity, her courage, her will.
“Honestly, I don’t like to get into politics in sports, but they got into politics in sports. Sports and politics are two separate things.
“These politicians who are oppressing me, they don’t have the right to say that I’m a transgender.”
During the Olympics, Rowling took to Twitter to label Khelif a man.
The Harry Potter author also accused Khelif of ‘enjoying the distress’ of Carini and ‘shattering’ her sporting ambitions.
Meanwhile, Musk shared a post by American swimmer Riley Gaines that also misgendered Khelif and claimed she doesn’t ‘belong in women’s sports’.
The Twitter owner added: “Absolutely.”
Should Rowling and Musk lose the case, they could potentially face imprisonment.