Imane Khelif has publicly criticised Elon Musk for orchestrating a “cruel” campaign against her during the recent Olympics.
Despite facing intense scrutiny over her gender during the Olympics, the 25-year-old Algerian boxer won the gold medal in the women’s welterweight category in Paris. Khelif was allowed to participate in the Olympics just a year after being disqualified from the World Boxing Championships due to allegedly failing tests that indicated she has male “XY” chromosomes.
This decision caused widespread controversy and outrage worldwide. While the International Boxing Association, the governing body of the world championships, claims Khelif failed gender tests, it has never presented any scientific evidence to substantiate its allegations.
Despite being born female, Khelif faced unfounded accusations and harassment during the Olympics, with Musk even participating in the online attacks. Musk, a billionaire known for his involvement in X, was reportedly named in a cyberbullying lawsuit filed by Khelif along with Donald Trump.
Following Khelif’s round 1 victory over Angela Carini in the Olympics, Musk shared a post on his own platform calling for men to be excluded from women’s sports. During an interview on the French TV show CLIQUE, Khelif became emotional when asked about Musk’s post on X, which she believed could incite further harassment.
“Elon Musk was one of the first to attack me during this hate campaign,” Khelif 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,” she added.
“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. At that time, my mother was going to hospital every day,” Khelif said.
After a brief pause to wipe away her tears, Khelif continued, “So I don’t understand the behaviour of people today. God is my guide; I am a practising 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.”
Another prominent figure who publicly questioned Khelif’s gender identity was Donald Trump, who the Olympic champion had previously criticised. Khelif has filed a cyberbullying lawsuit in France, naming JK Rowling, Musk, and Trump, among others. She also expressed her anger towards Trump in an Algerian interview with El Birad.
“Immediately after there was a lot of noise from politicians, athletes, stars, artists — Elon Musk and Donald Trump and that hurt me a lot, I cannot describe how scared I was,” Khelif noted. Khelif admitted that she was deeply affected by this painful experience that filled her with fear.
However, she managed to overcome it. “I had but thank God I was able to overcome it. Thank god, all the people of Algeria and the Arab world knew Imane Khelif with her femininity, her courage, her will.”
Khelif is not the only one criticising Musk. In July, Musk’s trans daughter, Vivian Wilson, publicly rejected her father’s statement about her gender identity and condemned his comments that she was “killed by the woke-mind virus.”
The following month, Vivian Wilson accused biographer Walter Isaacson of misrepresenting her in his book about her father, Elon Musk. “To Walter Isaacson, you threw me to the wolves in what was one of the most humiliating experiences of my entire life,” Wilson wrote in a series of Threads posts.
While Musk has not publicly addressed his trans daughter’s accusations, it remains to be seen whether the 53-year-old business magnate will remain silent about Khelif’s recent comments regarding the impact of his X post on her.
