The father of Olympic boxer Imane Khelif is speaking out about the controversy surrounding his daughter at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
On Saturday, August 3, the boxer’s father, Amar Khelif, opened up in an interview with Reuters about his daughter’s passion for boxing and said her recent winning streak, which has secured her at least one bronze medal, has made him proud.
“Having such a daughter is an honour because she is a champion, I have been honoured and I am rooting for her and I hope she gets the medal in Paris,” Amar told Reuters. “Imane is a little girl who has loved sport since she was six.”
While speaking to the outlet, Khelif’s father also shared an official-looking document, which showed her date of birth and gender. “This is our official family document, May 2, 1999, Imane Khelif, female. It’s written here, you can read it, this document doesn’t lie,” he said.
Khelif has been at the center of a gender-based controversy following her Thursday, August 1, bout against Italian boxer Angela Carini, who pulled out of her fight against Khelif, citing a serious nose injury.
After the fight, critics of the Algerian boxer argued that she should not have competed at the Olympics after being disqualified from the 2023 world boxing championships for failing an unspecified gender eligibility test by the International Boxing Association (IBA), the Associated Press reported.
The IBA claimed at the time that the eligibility test results showed Khelif had elevated testosterone levels, but other boxing officials argued that the test results were not transparent, and the IBA has since been suspended from being part of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to corruption allegations, according to ESPN.
The IOC has since reaffirmed its decision to allow Khelif to compete at the games. According to AP, “Khelif was assigned female at birth and is listed as such on her passport, which is the International Olympic Committee’s eligibility threshold for boxing.”
Khelif has previously been candid about how close she is with her family, saying they have been influential in her boxing career. In an interview on Sunday, August 4, with SNTV, an Associated Press sports video partner, she spoke about staying connected with them while competing in Paris during the Olympics.
