Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif revealed in an interview with French sports daily L’Equipe that she had undergone hormone treatments to lower her testosterone levels ahead of the 2024 Games, but reaffirmed that she is not “transgender.” Khelif was embroiled in a gender row at the Paris Games where she won gold in the women’s 66kg category.
“I have female hormones. And people don’t know this, but I have taken hormone treatments to lower my testosterone levels for competitions,” the 26-year-old Algerian said in the interview published on Wednesday, February 4. Khelif confirmed she has the SRY gene, located on the Y chromosome that indicates masculinity. “Yes, and it’s natural,” she said, adding that she is “surrounded by doctors, a professor is monitoring me… For the Paris Games qualifying tournament, which took place in Dakar, I lowered my testosterone levels to zero”.
Like Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who also won gold in another category at the Paris Games, Khelif found herself at the center of a gender row that attracted comments from US President Donald Trump and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. “I respect everyone, and I respect Trump. Because he is the President of the United States. But he cannot distort the truth. I am not a trans woman, I am a girl. I was raised as a girl, I grew up as a girl, the people in my village have always known me as a girl,” Khelif said.
‘I’m not hiding’
The boxer, who aims to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, knows that she will have to agree to mandatory gender testing imposed by World Boxing, a body recognized by the International Olympic Committee, and says she is ready.
“For the next Games, if I have to take a test, I will. I have no problem with that,” she said. “I’ve already taken this test. I contacted World Boxing, I sent them my medical records, my hormone tests, everything. But I haven’t had any response. I’m not hiding, I’m not refusing the tests.”
Khelif said it was for doctors and professors to “decide”, but stated: “We all have different genetics, different hormone levels. I’m not transgender. My difference is natural. This is who I am. I haven’t done anything to change the way nature made me. That’s why I’m not afraid.”
Khelif, who has not fought since the Paris Games, as World Boxing prevented her from participating in last year’s tournament in the Netherlands because she had not undergone the newly introduced chromosome test, revealed she is awaiting a French professional boxing license.Khelif, who has not fought since the Paris Games, as World Boxing prevented her from participating in last year’s tournament in the Netherlands because she had not undergone the newly introduced chromosome test, revealed she is awaiting a French professional boxing licence.
She said for her, it was “the logical next step”, but added that did not mean she was giving up on competing in two year’s time in LA. “Not at all. I want to… become the first person in Algerian sport to successfully defend their Olympic title,” she said.