Imane Khelif Medical Report Leak

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Part of a series on Imane Khelif vs. Angela Carini Boxing Bout Controversy. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Imane Khelif Medical Report Leak refers to legal action taken by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, Olympic champion in Paris 2024 in the women's boxing 66 kg category, against people who have allegedly leaked an unverified medical report that suggested she suffered from a sexual development disorder and was improperly registered as a female in her childhood. The scandal about the boxer's gender sparked a heated debate on the internet during Khelif's boxing bout against Italian Angela Carini at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In November 2024, Khelif's gender became a viral topic again after the Fench magazine Le Correspondant claimed to have seen a leaked medical report about the Algerian.

Background

On October 25th, 2024, the French magazine Le Correspondant posted an exclusive article titled "Imane Khelif: neither ovaries nor uterus, but testicles," claiming to have gained access to Imane Khelif's medical file from two renowned hospitals: the Kremlin Bicêtre hospital in Paris and the Mohamed Lamine Debaghine hospital in Algiers.^[1] According to the medical report submitted in June 2023 found by the tabloid, the doctors, Soumaya Fedala and Jacques Young, point out that Khelif allegedly has internal testicles and XY chromosomes due to a medical condition (seen below).

BBC^[2] and many other news outlets^[3] have since reported that they were unable to verify the claims.

Developments

Imane Khelif Medical Report Lawsuit

On November 6th, 2024, Imane Khelif revealed she is taking legal action over the leaked reports allegedly detailing her medical records, the International Olympic Committee^[4] told in a press release. On November 7th, the YouTube page @WION^[5] posted a video detailing the boxer's upcoming lawsuit (seen below), which amassed more than 2,600 views and 20 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

Imane Khelif's leaked medical record reignited a massive debate in early November 2024 about the boxer's gender as netizens shared unverified information to attack the Algerian, while others defended her and pointed out the lack of credibility in the documents and the transvestigation attempts by many on the internet regarding the athlete.

For example, on November 4th, 2024, the X^[6] page @BRICSinfo posted a picture of the boxer holding her Olympic gold medal, captioning it, "Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who won gold at the Paris Olympics in women's boxing, has been confirmed as a man, according to a medical report." The post (seen below) amassed over 13 million views and 104,000 likes in four days.

On the same day, Redditor u/beggleboggle^[7] posted a screenshot of the alleged medical report, writing that Khelif has XY chromosomes and "testicles," which received roughly 200 upvotes and 360 comments in four days.

Also on November 4th, 2024, X^[8] user @arianajasmine__ posted a video commenting on what they perceived as transphobic comments and attacks Khelif received online after the alleged medical report went viral. The video (seen below) amassed more than 133,000 views and 1,300 likes in four days.