Paris (France): Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who clinched a gold medal in the women's welterweight category boxing event, has filed a legal complaint in France for online harassment after facing huge criticism for false claims about her sex during the Paris Olympics, her lawyer said on Sunday.
The Algerian female boxer faced a lot of criticism and abuse regarding her eligibility to participate in the Paris Games under unspecified gender after her Italian opponent Angela Carini pulled out of the pre-quarterfinal clash of welterweight bout in a mere 46 seconds.
"The complaint was filed on Friday with a special unit in the Paris prosecutor's office for combating online hate speech, alleging aggravated cyber-harassment targeting Khelif," lawyer Nabil Boudi said. In a statement, he described it as a misogynist, racist and sexist campaign against the boxer.
According to French law, the complaint doesn't name an alleged offender, and hence, it's all now up to prosecutors to investigate the matter or not.
Khelif was disqualified from the world boxing championship held in India by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) for failing the gender eligibility test. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) defended the Algerian boxer, stating that the governing body has followed similar guidelines to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and she had participated there, hence she is participating here as well. Khelif was knocked out of the competition in her quarterfinal bout at the Tokyo Olympics.
"These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA (International Boxing Association). However, the rules of eligibility were based on those of the Tokyo Games in 2021 and cannot be changed during a competition," the IOC said in a statement.
“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years. The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving,” the IOC said.
Experts say the scrutiny of Khelif and Lin reflected disproportionate scrutiny and discrimination toward female athletes of colour when it comes to sex testing and false claims that they are male or transgender.
