Algerian boxing champion Imane Khelif says she is ready to meet any eligibility requirements needed to continue her career, but only if those standards are applied fairly and under the authority of the International Olympic Committee.
Khelif, 26, became one of the defining figures of the Paris 2024 Olympics after winning gold in the women’s welterweight (66kg.) division while navigating intense scrutiny over her eligibility.
The debate traces back to the 2023 World Championships, where the International Boxing Association disqualified her after citing the results of sex chromosome testing, a decision that reignited global arguments over gender regulations in elite sport.
That debate has since shifted to World Boxing, the newly formed governing body that has been provisionally recognized by the IOC and will oversee boxing at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
In May, World Boxing announced mandatory genetic sex testing for all athletes in its competitions, a policy that directly affects Khelif’s Olympic future.
Khelif has challenged the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, arguing she should not be excluded from competition unless testing is conducted under IOC supervision. Speaking to CNN, she said compliance was never the issue.
“Of course, I would accept doing anything I’m required to do to participate in competitions,” Khelif said. “They should protect women, but while protecting women, they shouldn’t hurt other women.”
In interviews with CNN and French daily L’Equipe, Khelif addressed the controversy head-on, firmly rejecting claims that she is transgender and calling for an end to what she describes as political exploitation.
“I’m not transgender. I’m a woman. I want to live my life,” she said. “Please do not exploit me for political agendas.”
Khelif revealed she underwent hormone treatment ahead of the Paris Games to lower her testosterone levels and confirmed she carries the SRY gene, which is typically associated with the Y chromosome. She stressed that her condition is natural and medically monitored, adding that her testosterone levels were reduced to zero during Olympic qualifying events.
“I have female hormones,” she told L’Equipe. “I’m surrounded by doctors. A professor is monitoring me. This is who I am. I didn’t change the way nature made me.”
Like Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, another gold medalist at the Paris Games, Khelif became the focal point of a global debate that drew commentary from political figures, including U.S. President Donald Trump, and author J.K. Rowling. Khelif said she respects differing opinions but rejects distortions of her identity.
“I was raised as a girl. I grew up as a girl. Everyone in my village knows me as a girl,” she said.
Despite the uncertainty, Khelif remains focused on the future. She has not competed since the Paris Games after World Boxing barred her from a tournament in the Netherlands due to the new chromosome testing rule. She is currently awaiting a French professional boxing license, a step she calls logical, but not a retreat from Olympic ambition.
“Not at all,” Khelif said when asked if turning professional would affect her Olympic plans. “I want to become the first athlete in Algerian sport to successfully defend an Olympic title.”
She says she has already submitted her full medical records and hormone test results to World Boxing and is still waiting for a response.
“I’m not hiding. I’m not refusing tests,” Khelif said. “Let doctors and professors decide. We all have different genetics.”
As her case moves through arbitration, Khelif insists she will not back down.
“I will not surrender until I have justice,” she said. “Because I know justice is on my side.”
