Imane Khelif breaks silence after IOC sets out new rules to 'protect female Olympians'
Imane Khelif has spoken out for the first time since the International Olympic Committee [IOC] announced plans to protect women in sports.
During the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris last summer, Algerian boxer Khelif won the gold medal in the women's 66kg boxing event, amid controversy surrounding her gender eligibility.
Shortly after Khelif's opening match against Italy's Angela Carini, it was revealed that the International Boxing Association [IBA] had previously disqualified Khelif from the 2023 World Championships for allegedly failing gender tests.
Since then, conversations about the safety of women in sports, particularly in combat sports, have become much more commonplace, with IBA president Umar Kremlev going as far as to demand that Khelif returns her gold medal.
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These conversations led to the IOC recently announcing a ban on transgender athletes and those with a difference of sexual development.
As the situation has developed, Khelif has remained silent, but she has now finally spoken out.
In a recent statement from new IOC President Kirsty Coventry, it was confirmed that Khelif would be able to keep her gold medal, as the organisation will not be going back on the results from Paris.
However, governing body World Boxing's recent introduction of mandatory testing to prove eligibility, Khelif currently cannot compete in women's boxing until she she takes the test that proves her gender, and it seems she may have responded to this news.
Taking to social media, the Olympic champion posted a selfie on her Instagram story, alongside a caption which reads: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
The story also included a part of the song 'I'm still here' by popstar Sia, in which the Australian sings about perseverance in the face of a tough battle.
What have the IOC said about Khelif's gold medal?
Just days into her new role as IOC President, Coventry confirmed that a new expert group who would be founded specifically to protect women in sports, while also confirming the ban transgender athletes.
In her first meeting, Coventry said: "There was overwhelming support that we should protect the female category. And with that, we will set up a working group made up of experts and international federations.
“It was agreed by the members that the IOC should take a leading role in this,” she added. “And that we should be the ones to bring together the experts and the international federations and ensure that we find consensus.
“We understand that there will be differences depending on the sports. But it was fully agreed that as members that, as the IOC, we should make the effort to place emphasis on protection of the female category.”
In the livestreamed meeting, Coventry also addressed demands to strip Khelif of her medal, adding: "We are not going to be doing anything retrospectively.
"We are going to be looking forward. From the members that were here, it was ‘what are we learning from the past and how are we going to leverage that and move that forward to the future'."
Ben McCrum