Aug 14, 2024 - Sports

Gender-based harassment of Algeria's Imane Khelif being investigated in France

Avery Lotz

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif celebrates her gold medal win. — Gold Medallist Imane Khelif of Team Algeria kisses her medal during the Boxing Women's 66kg medal ceremony on day fourteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Photo: Richard Pelham/Getty Images

French prosecutors opened an investigation into a cyber harassment complaint gold medalist boxer Imane Khelif made after she was targeted by online lies and baseless scrutiny of her sex during the Olympic Summer Games.

Why it matters: The Algerian athlete was ensnared in a storm of online hate bolstered by mis- and disinformation over her sex after an early match in which her opponent stopped fighting after just 46 seconds.

Khelif, who is not transgender and has long competed in women's boxing, faced a barrage of online assaults from Republican lawmakers, including Vice President nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and former President Donald Trump, accusing her of being biologically male.
Celebrities like Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling, who have both spread anti-transgender rhetoric online, also took to social media to attack Khelif.
Khelif's lawyer filed a complaint for aggravated cyber harassment to the Paris prosecutor's online hate unit Friday, her attorney said in a statement.

Driving the news: The Paris public prosecutor's office confirmed Wednesday that it had received Khelif's complaint and referred the matter to its Office for the Fight Against Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes to direct an investigation into charges of cyber harassment based on her gender or origin.

Nabil Boudi, the lawyer representing Khelif, likened the "misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign" targeting the boxer to a "digital lynching" in a statement released Saturday.

Catch up quick: The International Boxing Association, a Russia-backed boxing body the International Olympic Committee no longer recognizes, banned Khelif in 2023 for failing an unspecified gender test.

The IOC defended Khelif's participation and the inclusion of Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, who was also previously banned from competition by the IBA.

The big picture: The online harassment of Khelif underscores an ongoing debate over how the inclusion of both transgender and intersex athletes in the Games should be governed — and raises concerns about the bullying those athletes may face.

While the IOC in 2021 redesigned its framework on transgender and intersex athletes, the international federations that govern individual sports, which were not bound to the revised policy, were left to navigate specific policies.

Go deeper: Gender tensions at the Olympics are not new

Add Axios on Google

Gender-based harassment of Algeria's Imane Khelif being investigated in France

What to read next