Imane Khelif's father did not call her transgender
feed_watermarkSeptember 02, 2024
Imane Khelif has been under intense scrutiny over her gender identity. Image by Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS
AAP FACTCHECK - The father of Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif has said she is transgender, social media posts claim.
This is false. Amar Khelif has said she was born and raised female and has never said his daughter is transgender.
The Algerian boxer was the subject of intense scrutiny during the Paris Olympics, leading to many claims about her gender identity.
Many posts are spreading disinformation about the boxer.
"Imane Khelif's Father Breaks Silence on the 2024 Olympic Boxing Champion's Gender Identity - 'She Is Transgender, Not a Boy' Amid Rising Speculation," one of the Facebook posts reads.
Many posts feature a photo of Khelif's father, Amar, in which he is showing an image of his daughter as a child on his phone.
The interview with Mr Khelif was conducted by Reuters news agency.
In the interview, he does not describe his daughter as transgender. Instead, he recalls her growing up as a "little girl" and he repeatedly refers to her as female.
"My child is a girl. She was raised a girl. She is a strong girl," he said in the interview.
Imane Khelif's father has never said she is transgender.
The photo used in the posts is also incorrectly captioned. One of the children pictured next to Mr Khelif is labelled "Imane".
However, the child pictured is actually one of Imane Khelif's younger siblings.
The photo, from Getty Images dated August 2, 2024, is captioned: "The father of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, shows a picture of his daughter as a child as he sits accompanied by his two young children in the family home".
Khelif filed a cyberbullying lawsuit in France after winning gold in the women's 66kg division, naming billionaire Elon Musk and author JK Rowling among her alleged abusers.
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