Gold medalist boxer Imane Kherif is under attack by one of his former sparring partners.
Bulgarian-Nigerian female boxer Joana Nwamerue, who has sparred with Kherif on several occasions since the Algerian boxer was embroiled in a gender controversy at the Olympics, has a bizarre theory about Kherif’s background.
“[Khelif] “He has some internal issues. But he’s a man.” Nwamerue said, according to Reduxx. “I’m staying here [by] “Don’t take my word for it until he/she takes a test to prove to the world that he/she is a woman, but we all know that’s not going to happen.”
Nwamelu then claimed he was approached by Kherif’s teammates, who claimed the newly gold medallist had been “biologically altered” by his environment.
“[Khelif’s] My teammates came up to me and said, ‘Imane is not the man,'” Nwamerue said.
“She’s a woman and she just lives in the mountains with her relatives and parents, so maybe there’s a change in testosterone or chromosomes or whatever…. We’ve had maybe three or four sparring matches. I have all the records. To me, she’s definitely a man. Man strength, man technique, everything.”
Kheriff is not transgender – she was born a woman – but was banned by the International Boxing Association (IBA) last year after mysteriously failing a test that showed she had XY chromosomes, according to IBA president Umar Kremlev.
Kheriff won the gold medal at last week’s Paris Olympics, beating China’s Yang Liu. Kheriff looked dominant throughout. She won the welterweight tournament with five wins.
After that sheShe condemned the harassment she suffered as an “aggression against human dignity.” NBC New York.
“I send a message to people all over the world to respect the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter and not to bully any athlete, because this will have a big impact,” Khelif said in Arabic in an interview with SNTV. According to the Associated Press.
2024 Paris Olympics
“Bullying can destroy people, it can kill people’s minds, their spirits and their hearts. It can divide people. That’s why I ask people to refrain from bullying.”
Khelife also filed a lawsuit over online harassment he suffered over the controversy.
Italian boxer Angela Carini sparked major Olympic controversy when she withdrew from her first bout against Kheriff after 46 seconds, saying she had “never been hit so hard.”
