Imane Khelif’s dad has shown her birth certificate on TV as the Olympic gender row continues.
It all started prior to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games when the Algerian fighter, 25, was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.
The International Boxing Association, which was permanently banned from the Olympics last year, said that she and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were unable to meet their unspecified gender eligibility criteria.
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However, the two athletes have been cleared to compete in Paris.
Gross misinformation on social media began to spread when the Khelif faced-off against Italy's Angela Carini in the round of 16 on Thursday (1 August). Carini decided to abandon the match after 46 seconds.
The Italian, who said that she was unable to carry on due to pain in her nose, cried: “It hurt so much. I am heartbroken.
“I went to the ring to honour my father. I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior, but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this.”
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Carini has since said that she wanted to apologise for her behaviour.
Then on Saturday (3 August), Khelif won her second women's 66kg match against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the quarter-final.
Amid the backlash online, her father Omar Khelif, has insisted that his daughter deserves to fight in the women's 66kg category.
He told Sky News last week: "My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl. She's a strong girl. I raised her to be hard-working and brave. She has a strong will to work and to train.
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"The Italian opponent she faced was unable to defeat my daughter because my daughter was stronger and she was softer."
In an interview with French TV station BFMTV, the dad went one step further by showing off his daughter's birth certificate to prove she was born a girl.
In the meantime, the IOC and Paris 2024 Boxing Unit have said in a joint statement: “Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination.
“Eligibility rules should not be changed during ongoing competition, and any rule change must follow appropriate processes and should be based on scientific evidence.
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“The IOC is committed to protecting the human rights of all athletes participating in the Olympic Games as per the Olympic Charter, the IOC Code of Ethics and the IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights.
"The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving."
The most bizarre, discontinued Olympic sports
Painting
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Back in the day, the Olympics dished out medals for art too, with events including painting and sculpture, as well as music, architecture and even literature.
Making its debut all the way back at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm and continuing until the 1948 London games, juries awarded competitors a total of 151 medals for artistic projects inspired by sport.
Tug of War
Bet you didn't think this playground classic was once part of the Olympics, did you?
Well, it turns out not only was the sport popular, but it stirred up a lot of drama too - with accusations of foul play flying around at the 1908 Olympics in London, with Team USA accusing Team GB of cheating due to their 'illegal' heavy footwear.
A mainstay for around five Olympic games from 1900 to 1920, Tug of War enthusiasts have even campaigned for organisers to reintroduce the retired sport back into the Games.
Hot Air Balloon Racing
Launching at the 1900 Olympics, hot air balloon drivers would compete in races scoring how far they could travel, altitude reached, ability to land within the correct coordinates and - to top it all off - who got the best photo from the balloon.
The sport ended up being canned after a ban on motorised sports was brought in.
Live Pigeon Shooting
Also making its debut at the 1900 Olympics, the event was pretty self explanatory - a load of pigeons were released into the air as the competitor tried to shoot as many as possible. Grim.
The event only appeared at the Games once, and all in all, it's estimated that Olympic hopefuls killed around 300 pigeons.
Pistol Duelling
It doesn't take much guessing as to why this event was scrapped, but back in 1906, people clearly didn't bat an eyelid at competitors waving pistols around and shooting at each other.
It began with competitors shooting at dummies, but two years later organisers decided to shake things up and have them shoot at each other with wax bullets. Ouch.
1908 would be the last time the sport was included in the Olympics, so I'm guessing they quickly realised it was a bad idea - wax bullets or not.
Topics: Imane Khelif, Olympics, Sport
Anish Vij