Imane Khelif has fired at Elon Musk for leading a “cruel” campaign against her during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 25-year-old Olympian claimed a gold medal in the women’s welterweight (66kg) competition category at the Olympics despite the unsubstantiated speculation over her gender.
The controversy began on August 1 when the Khelif beat Italy’s Angela Carini in 46 seconds. The Italian boxer fell to her knees crying allegedly stating “It’s not fair,” before refusing to shake her opponent’s hand after it was confirmed that she would not be advancing to the next round.
Right after the match, misinformation about the Algerian star’s gender and eligibility to compete in women’s boxing spread like wildfire on social media, with prominent figures like J.K Rowling, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump sharing their thoughts.
Riley Gaines – a former collegiate swimmer at Kentucky – took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a post insinuating that Khelif is a male, writing: “Men don’t belong in women’s sports #IStandWithAngelaCarini.”
The 53-year-old tech mogul agreed with Gaines by quoting the post with the simple one-worded response: “Absolutely.”
The post amassed a staggering 1.8 million likes on the platform.
Absolutely https://t.co/twccUEOW9e
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2024
The gold medalist has now called out Musk, owner of X, branding his actions as “cruel” in an emotional interview on French TV show CLIQUE.
“Elon Musk was one of the first to attack me during this hate campaign,” she said. “He posted this video and it was retweeted. So, he was one of the first to have spread this buzz, this campaign against me.”
Khelif said she would tell the Tesla owner: “You hate me but you don’t even know me. I don’t even know why you led this attack. You have been cruel to me, cruel to my family, to my mother.”
She became teary-eyed when she revealed that when the misinformation about her gender spread online, her mom was “going to the hospital every day,” adding: “So I don’t understand the behavior of people today. God is my guide, I am a practicing Muslim woman. I am a Muslim Arabic woman and I got through this moment.”
“I hope I will be even stronger in the future and come back even more motivated,” she concluded.
Watch the interview below:
"You hate me but you don't even know me"
Imane Khelif reacts to the cyberbullying campaign spread by @elonmusk. #elonmusk #olympicgames #imanekhelif pic.twitter.com/Ad5Yc3fZYG
— CLIQUE (@cliquetv) September 8, 2024
The athlete is listed as a female on her passport, has always identified as female, and has been competing in women’s boxing since she started in the sport.
Last year, Khelif, along with Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, were banned from world championships by the IBA for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) criticized those tests as deeply flawed and has since barred the IBA over issues related to governance, alleged corruption, and ties to Russia.
Despite the backlash online, the Olympics stood by its decision to allow Khelif to compete in the women’s boxing competition, saying: “Everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules. They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case, that they are female,” as cited by Variety.
IOC president Thomas Bach also defended the gold medalist and Yu-ting at a press conference: “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman…This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.,” per BBC.
Since winning at the Paris Games, Khelif filed a cyberbullying lawsuit over the online harassment she was subjected to.
The lawsuit accuses Musk’s X of facilitating “acts of aggravated cyber harassment” and named Rowling and Musk amongst others.
Trump would be part of the investigation too, with the athlete’s attorney, Nabil Boudi, explaining: “Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution,” as cited by Variety.
“What we’re asking is that the prosecution investigates not only these people but whoever it feels necessary. If the case goes to court, they will stand trial,” Boudi added.