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Boxer Imane Khelif has shown off a new look after her performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics was the subject of an online row over her gender.
In a joint video shared on Instagram by Beauty Code and Khelif, the Olympian can be seen standing front and center, wearing a blue T-shirt and her red boxing gloves. The video then switched to a shot of Khelif in a different look, as she wore a white button-down shirt and hoop earrings with pink flowers attached.
She also sported pink eyeshadow and matching lipstick, as well as a silver necklace. Khelif completed her look with her gold medal, which she won at the women's welterweight tournament in Paris on August 9. The video ends with the Algerian athlete smiling at the camera with her hair down and curly.
In the caption, which has been translated from Arabic to English, Beauty Code noted that while Khelif was “changing her appearance” in the video, the boxer was not defined by her appearance. Nor did she “seek to change her shape to fit the molds the world wants to confine us to.”
“Her message is much deeper: clothes do not make a monk and appearance does not reveal the essence of a person,” reads the caption. “She can be feminine and elegant when she wants, but in the ring she does not need makeup or high heels. She only needs strategy, strength and to throw punches, which is where the essence of her personality lies.”
On X, formerly Twitter, many people praised Khelif's new look and also expressed that the boxer should not have to make her appearance look more feminine.
“A very stunning 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 to adopt a hyper-feminine aesthetic to please the gaze of strangers is a little pathetic. But the makeover eats… nibbles a little, I should say,” posted a third person.
Another argued: “She didn’t have to do this. I looked at her Instagram and there is no place where that personality is reflected. She should have been left alone.”
During the Olympics, Khelif first outboxed Yang Liu to win gold in the women's welterweight tournament, becoming the first Algerian woman to win a boxing gold medal at the Games. However, days earlier, outrage erupted following Angela Carini's withdrawal after 46 seconds in her round of 16 bout against the Algerian. During the bout, Carini could also be heard telling her coach: “It's not right, it's not right!”, sparking 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 after failing to meet the International Boxing Association (IBA) eligibility criteria. Taiwan's double world champion Lin Yu-ting also lost her bronze medal at the same competition after failing to meet the criteria.
The IBA did not specify why the boxers failed gender eligibility tests, but said neither of them underwent testosterone testing. Neither Khelif nor Lin, 28, identify as transgender or intersex. However, the International Olympic Committee said in July that both were cleared to compete at the 2024 Olympics.
After winning the gold medal at the Olympics, Khelif spoke out about the scrutiny she would receive on social media for her comments about her gender. “I am a woman, I was born a woman, I lived as a woman. There is no doubt about it,” she said at the event. “Everything that is said about me on social media is immoral. I want to change the mindset of people around the world.”
Khelif also said that by winning gold, she was sending a message to the IBA about “dignity and honour”.
“As to whether I am qualified 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,” she added. “These people [who claim I am not]“They are the enemies of success. That's what I call them. That's what gives my success a special flavor thanks to these attacks.”
Khelif subsequently filed a legal complaint, claiming to be a victim of online harassment. In the suit, her lawyer Nabil Boudi alleged that she was the subject of “aggravated cyberbullying.” In a statement, he described the online backlash as a “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign” against the boxer.
On August 13, Boudi said: Variety: “The lawsuit names JK Rowling and Elon Musk, among others,” she added. “Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be investigated as part of the allegation.”
