Gold medal-winning Olympic champion Imane Khelif is opening up about the racist and transphobic hate she received at this year’s Summer Olympic games in Paris.
Khelif, who was born a girl, raised a girl, and is cisgender, was accused of being a cheater, misogynist, and a man during the Paris 2024 after her first round fight where her opponent quit in the first round.
The Russian-lead International Boxing Association claimed Khelif had failed an unspecified gender eligibility test following a victory over a Russian boxer in a tournament last year. The IBA provided no evidence, and had previously been banned from the Olympics due to corruption and scandals.
Soon after, celebrities like Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling, and Donald Trump were taking to social media and posting hateful and ignorant comments about her, calling her a man beating up women and saying that she should be ashamed.
After the Olympics were over, Khelif filed a legal complaint over the online harassment and specifically named Rowling, Musk, and others in the complaint.
Now, speaking on French news show Clique, Khelif has opened up about how the hate affected not just her life, but her family’s life as well…
In a video clip from the interview, Khelif was asked what it was like to have someone as big and influential as Elon Musk posting hateful and ignorant attacks toward her.
Musk had retweeted an X post from former swimmer and anti-trans activist, Riley Gaines, who said, “Men don’t belong in women’s sports #IStandWithAngelaCarini Let’s get it trending” alongside a picture of Carini, Khelif’s first-round opponent in the Olympics.
“Elon Musk was one of the first to attack me during this hate campaign. 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.
“I would say, ‘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 added. “At that time my mother was going to hospital every day.”
After choking up and holding back tears, she continued.
“So I don’t understand the behavior of people today. God is my guide. I am a practicing Muslim woman, as I said. 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.”
Good luck to Khelif.
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1832415387201499141/vid/avc1/320×568/IEm4B3lI587YwcJy.mp4?tag=16
