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Boxer Imane Khelif has unveiled a new look after her performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics came under fire online over her gender.
In a video shared by Beauty Code and Khelif on Instagram, the Olympian was seen standing front and center, wearing a blue shirt and red boxing gloves. The video then switched to a shot of Khelif in a different look as she was wearing a white floral button-down shirt and hoop earrings with pink flowers attached.
She also wore pink eye shadow and matching lipstick and a silver necklace. Khelif completed her look with the gold medal she won at the women’s middleweight tournament in Paris on August 9. The video ended with the Algerian athlete smiling at the camera with his curly hair.
In a text translated from Arabic to English, Beauty Code noted that while Khelif “changed her appearance” in the video, the boxer was not defined by her appearance. Nor did he “try to change his shape to fit the mold the world wants to confine us to.”
“His message is much deeper: clothes don’t make a monk, and looks don’t reveal a person’s essence,” the caption read. “She can be feminine and elegant when she wants, but in the ring she doesn’t need makeup or high heels. All he needs is strategy, power and punches, which is the core of his personality.”
On X, formerly Twitter, many people praised Khelifi’s new look, while expressing that the boxer should not make his appearance look more feminine.
“Absolutely gorgeous woman. The internet owes her an apology,” one person wrote, while another added: “She looks absolutely gorgeous and the haters are still crying.”
“The fact that she was forced into a hyper-feminine aesthetic to please the gaze of strangers is kind of boring. But the makeover eats — grabs a little, I’d say,” a third person wrote.
Another claimed: “She didn’t have to do this. I saw her Instagram and this is not her personality anywhere. They should have left her alone.”
During the Olympics, Khelif defeated Yang Liu for the first time to win gold in the women’s middleweight tournament. She became the first woman from Algeria to ever win a gold medal in boxing at the Games. However, days earlier, fury erupted following Angela Carini’s withdrawal after 46 seconds in her round of 16 match against the Algerian. During the match, Carin was also heard telling his coach: “It’s not right, it’s not right!” — which sparked an online controversy over Khelif allegedly failing a gender eligibility test in 2023.
Last year, Khelif was disqualified hours before her gold medal bout at the Women’s World Championships in New Delhi for failing to meet International Boxing Association (IBA) eligibility requirements. Taiwan’s two-time world champion Lin Yu-ting also lost her bronze medal in the same competition when she also failed to meet the criteria.
The IBA did not specify why the boxers failed the gender eligibility test, but clarified that neither was tested for testosterone. Khelif and Lin, 28, do not identify as transgender or intersex. However, the International Olympic Committee said in July that they are both allowed to compete in the 2024 Olympics.
After her Olympic gold medal win, Khelif spoke about how she was scrutinized on social media with comments about her gender. “I am a woman, I was born a woman, I lived as a woman. There is no doubt about it,” he declared at the event. “Everything that is said about me on social media is immoral. I want to change people’s opinions around the world.”
Khelif also said that by winning the gold, he sent a message of “dignity and honor” to the IBA.
“As for whether I qualify or not, whether I am a woman or not: I made many statements in the media, I am fully qualified, I am a woman, I was born a woman, I lived as a woman. There is no doubt about it, he added. “These people [who claim I am not]they are the enemies of success. That’s what I call them. It gives my success a special flavor because of these attacks.
Khelif later filed a legal complaint citing himself as a victim of cyberbullying. At the trial, his lawyer Nabil Boudi claimed he was the target of “more severe cyber-harassment”. In a statement, he described the online backlash as a “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign” against the boxer.
August 13, Boudi said Variety: “JK Rowling and Elon Musk, among others, have been mentioned in the lawsuit.” He added that Donald Trump is part of the investigation. “Trump tweeted, so whether he is named in our lawsuit or not, he will inevitably be investigated as part of the impeachment.”
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