Imane Khelif has declared a plan to defend her Olympic gold medal, saying she has ‘surprises’ despite the IOC’s sex testing and an incoming ban on transgender athletes.
The gender row boxer rose to global prominence after winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but her inclusion and victory at the Games sparked controversy amid claims that she had allegedly failed a gender eligibility test the previous year.
World Boxing then confirmed that fighters will be required to undergo mandatory sex screening to compete in their events.
Khelif, who has not competed since the tests have been introduced, has taken her fight to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to compete without being tested.
In reacting to this week’s news that a ban on transgender women competitors is strongly expected to be in place for the 2028 Olympics, with added uncertainty over the differences of sexual development (DSD) athletes, Khelif reiterated her desire to compete. At present, it is not known for certain whether Khelif is a DSD athlete and she was born female.
She said: ‘Yes, God willing, I am still determined to achieve another Olympic medal.
Imane Khelif won gold in Paris under a cloud of controversy and plans to defend her title
‘I am working on many surprises that I have not yet announced, but God willing, we will be on the right track.
‘In the Paris Olympics and after, and even now, I am still being subjected to campaigns, injustice, and new decisions from international federations, but I currently have a case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and God willing, it will be for the best.
She added: ‘The dream continues, and the work continues, and as for the campaigns and the people who criticize, I say to them, continue, because I am developing.’
On the decision to mandate gender testing, Khelif went on: ‘This law issued by the International Boxing Association was specifically for Iman Khalif and not for athletes. They issued this law after the Paris Olympics.
‘Today I am fighting inside and outside the ring, but the law is above all voices, and the decision is fundamentally illogical and contrary to the law.’
Under the existing rules, each sport at the Olympics is empowered to decide if transgender women can compete if their testosterone levels fall below a designated threshold.
But the International Olympic Committee, under new president Kirsty Coventry, is in discussions about a dramatic policy shift that would impose a blanket ban across all sports for the Los Angeles Games.
An IOC statement to Daily Mail Sport earlier this week read: ‘An update was given by the IOC’s director of health, medicine and science to the IOC Members last week during the IOC commission meetings. The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken yet.’
Olympic gender row boxer Khelif, pictured at Paris Fashion Week, put her faith in the legal process
Among the points stressed in that presentation was the distinction between transgender and DSD in athletes who have male chromosomes but were raised as female. On the latter, which led to immense controversy at the boxing at Paris 2024, the future landscape is less clear.
It is understood that a rule change around DSD athletes is considered likely in the long run, but faces internal opposition, according to Daily Mail Sport sources.
That separate branch of the debate led to fury in Paris last year when Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan won boxing gold medals after being disqualified from the World Championships in 2023 for reportedly failing gender eligibility tests.
The IOC executive committee, which included Coventry at the time, faced huge criticism for permitting them to fight.
